Hackers launch over 44 mn attempts on Israeli government websites since last week

Over 44 million hacking attempts had been made on Israeli government websites since Wednesday when Israel initiated its Gaza offensive, Israeli officials said.

According to finance minister Yuval Steinitz, only one hacking attempt was successful on a site he did not want to name, but added it was up and running 10 minutes after being brought down.

Defence-related sites clocked the most numerous attacks, his ministry said while there were 10 million attempts on the site of Israel's president, 7 million on the foreign ministry and 3 million on the site of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to a finance ministry spokesman who spoke to Reuters, while the attacks had come from around the world, most had come from Israeli and the Palestenian territories.

Speaking ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting Steinitz said, the ministry's computer division would continue to block millions of cyber-attacks. He added Israel was  enjoying the fruits of its investment in recent years in developing computerised defence systems.

A video message purporting to be from the hacking collective Anonymous, which was posted online on Sunday warned, "We will strike any and all websites that we deem to be in Israeli cyberspace in retaliation for the mistreating of people in Gaza and other areas."