Andre Yoskowitz
7 Jan 2012 16:37
Israeli officials have vowed to retaliate against "Saudi" hackers that stole and posted credit card info on over 20,000 Israeli citizens.
The officials say they will respond to the cyber-attacks in the same way they respond to "violent terrorist acts."
"Such cyber-attacks are a breach of sovereignty comparable to a terrorist operation, and must be treated as such," added Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. "Israel has active capabilities for striking at those who are trying to harm it, and no agency or hacker will be immune from retaliatory action."
Earlier in the week, an allegedly Saudi hacker with the pen name OxOmar began leaking info stolen from an attack on One.co.il, the largest sports site in Israel. The hackers redirected users to a new site where their login info and other personal data could be stolen. OxOmar, part of the team "Group-XL" says they have credit card details, including expiration dates and security codes listed on the back of the cards, social security numbers, names, addresses, phone numbers and more.
So far, about 20,000 valid credit card numbers have been released, but banks have been shutting them down and there are apparently only hundreds of dollars in fraudulent charges, to date.
Despite the politically charged nature of the hackers claiming they are from Saudi Arabia, many reports now claim OxOmar is really a 19-year-old Mexican national.