Sneak Peak of X-Wing fighter from Star Wars: Episode VII

So cool!

 

Israeli Military and Hamas trade Hacking Attacks

Photo: Screenshot taken today of Al Qassam website

As Israeli ground forces push into Gaza to remove militant Islamic troops and missiles, hacking teams from both sides ply their trades. Reports of multiple site hacking, denial of service attacks and defacement are being reported by both camps in this struggle for Israel’s right to exist.

Israeli Attacks on Hamas

According to the The Jerusalem Post, Israeli hackers have either taken down or blocked numerous Hamas and Palestinian websites. Though several seem back up now, these included:

• Qudstv.ps, Hamas’ official website
• Felesteen.ps
• Gaza Alan
• Shehab.ps

Visiting Al Qassam’s website today will reveal the screenshot taken above with the message, “This website is subjected to intense attacks“.

Hamas and Hacktivist attacks on Israel

Pro-Hamas hackers and militant Islamic hacktivist groups have targeted several military and civilian Israeli sites. Earlier this month the IDF’s Twitter page was compromised by the Syrian Electronic Army.

This week, part of Israel’s channel 10 TV was hacked by the Hamas military wing causing some viewers to see a pro-Hamas message as seen below:

And on the lighter side, Dominoes Israel  Facebook page was hacked last week with posts claiming, “Today will strike deep in Israel, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, Ashkelon, Ashdod more than 2000 rockets. We’ll start at 7. Counting back towards the end of Israel … Be warned!“

Which brought an Israeli response of, “Hey, please reserve a missile for me with jalapenos, green olives, extra cheese, and mushrooms. You have my address. Tell the delivery boy to activate the alarm when it is arriving, so I know to put my pants on.“

It would seem that even Domino’s pizza took it light hearted, after they regained control of the page they apparently posted a picture of a Hamas militant with the caption, “You cannot defeat….The Israeli hunger for pizza!“

Pro-Hamas hackers haven’t just focused on Israeli targets, a Synagogue in Philadelphia was also just hacked.

Conclusion

The violence and loss of life as Israel struggles against militant Islamic aggression is a tragedy. Further dividing of Israel will not bring peace, all it has done so far is to provide new rocket launching areas for militant rockets. Providing a “Two State” solution is also not the answer, as it was already tried and failed. The British Mandate for Palestine and Trans-Jordan provided a “Two State” solution (with Arab leaders blessing) in the 1920’s. With this deal Palestine was divided between Jews and Muslims with Arabs getting 80% of the land and Israel only 20%.

This did not bring peace as militant Islamists demand even more land from Israel, even though they were given 80% of the territory for Muslim Palestinians to live. The truth is, they do not want Israel’s land – they do not want Israel to exist.

As  Golda Meir once said, “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”

Snowden Continues to Expose Allied Cyber Tactics

NSA whistleblower and Putin poster boy Edward Snowden apparently released yet another document, this one exposing UK cyber spying techniques allegedly used by the GCHQ.

The document, according to The Intercept lists multiple tools that the UK intelligence agency used to spy on social media accounts, interrupt or modify communication and even modify online polls.

Tools like:

• UNDERPASS – Change outcome of online polls
• SILVERLORD – Disruption of video-based websites hosting extremist content
• ANGRY PIRATE – Permanently disables a target’s account on a computer
• PREDATORS FACE – Targeted Denial Of Service against Web Servers
• And several others.

The release again leaves me scratching my head.

From ancient times countries spied on each other, even their allies. Only the most naive would assume this practice has magically stopped in the online age. I do love how shocked governments appeared in the media when they found out that the NSA was snooping on them, what a joke.

And in this case, several of these tools listed sound like they are more geared towards fighting or countering online use of enemy communications possibly by Islamic militants.

One would have to ask, does this release from Snowden make the people of the UK or the US safer from government snooping, or more likely would it tell enemy nations exactly what tools have been and will be used against them?

Again with Snowden one would have to ask, is he a champion of internet privacy or simply just a traitor to the US and her allies, exposing tools and techniques used against foreign nations and in the war on terror?

With Snowden pushing for an extension of his stay in Russia, it would seem the later would be correct.

How Israel’s Iron Dome Missile Shield Works

Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense shield is hard at work again intercepting militant rockets fired from Gaza to population centers in Israel. Recently Iron Dome has successfully  intercepted 70 explosive projectiles launched at Israeli cities.

But how exactly does Iron Dome work?

The YouTube video above reveals how Israel intercepts air-to-ground missiles.