Justice Ministry reviewing ‘cyber incident’ after hacktivists’ claim breach
The Justice Ministry says it is looking into a “cyber incident” after activist hackers protesting against the war in Gaza say they managed to breach the ministry’s servers and retrieve hundreds of gigabytes of data.
“Since the morning hours, experts at the ministry and elsewhere have been looking into the incident and its implications,” the ministry tweets.
“The scope of the materials is still under review and it will take time to examine the content and scope of the documents that were leaked and their sources.”
A group called Anonymous for Justice has claimed responsibility for the breach, which it said included the retrieval of nearly 300 gigabytes of data. On its website, the group says it would continue attacking Israel “until the war in Gaza stops.”
The group has published files that it said it obtained in the breach such as legal documents, including drafts of bilateral agreements and contracts marked as confidential.
Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the leaked documents.
The Justice Ministry says in its post that it had prepared in advance for such a scenario and that its operations remained uninterrupted.
The National Cyber Directorate said earlier this week it was expecting an increase in attempts at cyberattacks over the weekend for Iran’s annual Quds Day, which uses the Arabic name for Jerusalem, held on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.