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Israeli college targeted by cyber attack; students’ data held for ransom by hackers

An illustrative image of computer pop-up box screen warning of a system being hacked. (By Getty Images)

An Israeli college has come under a cyber attack, the latest in a series of such hacking incidents causing widespread disruption across the occupied territories.

Israeli newspaper Arutz Sheva said in a report on Saturday that students at Sapir College near the southern city of Sderot had received text messages stating that their personal information was being held for ransom by hackers.

“Last night at around 9:00 p.m., some seniors and graduates of Sapir College received a text message about their account being hacked. We would like to clarify and reassure you: that the hacking of the college’s network is being handled by the college’s computing department and a professional consultant that we have deployed to deal with the incident while maintaining continuous contact and support from national cyber authorities,” the college was quoted as saying by the paper.

“So far, no traces of a hack into sensitive information systems or personal accounts have been found. The databases at the college comply with the guidelines of the privacy protection regulations. We will continue to monitor the situations and report developments if necessary,” it added.

Last month, a hacker group, which identifies itself as the “Moses Staff,” broke into the Israeli electricity network, vowing to plunge the regime into darkness.

The group said it had targeted the Israel Electric Corporation, the largest supplier of electrical power in the occupied territories, as well as Dorad Energy Ltd., which serves customers throughout the territories, and technical solutions provider, Reali Technologies ltd.

Earlier this year, the group also struck Israeli closed-circuit television cameras in the occupied Palestinian territories and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, an Israeli “defense technology” company.

According to Moses Staff's website, the group has so far hacked over 172 Israeli servers and 257 websites and compiled over 34 terabytes of data.

The group says that it will not forget “the soldiers whose blood is shed due to wrong policies and fruitless wars, the mothers mourning for their children, and all the cruelty and injustice done to the people of this nation,” vowing to “keep fighting! To uncover your hidden crimes.”


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