Anonymous hackers suspected of attacking Israel's defence websites as Shin Bet and Mossad sites crash

Israel's defence websites - including those of the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet and the international Mossad spy agency - crashed yesterday, in a suspected cyber attack by 'hacktivists' Anonymous.

The crash came two days after a warning, posted on Youtube in the name of the hacker group, said Anonymous would retaliate after Israel stopped two vessels carrying activists and journalists to Gaza.

A spokeswoman for Shin Bet said: 'We can confirm that the website has been down for several hours and an investigation is ongoing. Initial investigations conducted by Tehila, the Internet company, indicate problems with the website servers.'



Suspected: The disruption to Israeli defence websites yesterday comes just two days after Anonymous promised retaliation for the blockade of Palestine

The websites for Israel Defence Forces and Mossad were also affected.

While there was no confirmation that the outages were a result of hacking, or that Anonymous was responsible, the timing of disruption and the Youtube warning seem more than a coincidence.

Anonymous's warning was referring to a November 4 incident, when two boats - carrying 27 activists, crew and journalists - were stopped by Israeli vessels in international water near Israel's blockade of Palestine.

It was the second time activists have tried to run the blockade since May 2010, when Israeli commandos raided a Turkish-led group of ships, killing nine Turkish activists on board.

Bound for Gaza: The Irish Saoirse, left, and Canadian-registered Tahrir are seen in international water before being boarded by Israeli forces on Friday

Boarding party: An image released by Israel Defence Forces show soldiers boarding the Saoirse. Anonymous branded the incident 'piracy on the high seas'

The Youtube posting, titled An Open Letter From Anonymous To The Government Of Israel', outlined the most recent incident and branded the Israeli interception as 'piracy on the high seas'.

It warned Israel: 'If you continue blocking humanitarian vessels to Gaza or repeat the dreadful actions of May 31st, 2010 against any Gaza Freedom Flotillas then you will leave us no choice but to strike back.'

Anonymous has claimed responsibility for a variety of hacking incidents, including the defacing of a website of Syria's defence ministry, and attacks on companies it felt were enemies of whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.



Last week, a day after the Palestinians won full membership of UNESCO, hackers attacked Palestinian servers, cutting Internet service across the West Bank and Gaza.