Israel Responds To A Cyber Attack With Bombs
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have bombed a building belonging to Hamas in the Gaza strip in order to thwart an attempted cyber-attack against Israeli targets, the military announced Sunday 5th May.
The IDF hit a building in the Gaza Strip with an airstrike after claiming the site had been used by Hamas cyber operatives to attack Israel’s cyber space and the organisation claimed it had stopped the attack online before launching its airstrike on Hamas. The IDF now claims it has now wiped out Hamas’ cyber operational capabilities.
The attack targeted the building where Hamas operatives were working, following successful cyber defense measures from Israel, the military said.
Israel Defense Forces said on Twitter, “We thwarted an attempted Hamas cyber offensive against Israeli targets. Following our successful cyber defensive operation, we targeted a building where the Hamas cyber operatives work. HamasCyberHQ.exe has been removed.”
This could mark a change in modern cyber warfare tactics, given that it is the first time a cyber-attack has been met with immediate physical retaliation. However, the US is still the first country to respond to cyber-attacks with military force.
In 2015, the nation launched a drone strike to kill the British national in charge of ISIL's hacker groups Junaid Hussain. Hussain had also dumped personal details of US military forces online.
Now the geo-political dynamics around the world have led us to a stage where cyberattacks are being considered with the utmost of urgency and priority by governments. Israel has confirmed that they have responded to a cyber-attack with full military power.
The Israeli Defence Forces have said that they launched air-strikes on a building which is believed to have housed Hamas digital warfare operatives. The building was located in the Gaza Strip, which Israeli fighter jets have now destroyed.
This comes at a time when cyber warfare is gaining even more significance, and many countries are weighing in on multiple response mechanisms. Israel’s response to the cyber-attack on its virtual networks could in a way set a new benchmark for responding to digital warfare that could be designed to compromise the national security of any country.
The closest any country has come to taking such a step earlier was back in 2015 when the US launched a drone strike against terror group ISIS after a cyber-attack leaked the personal details of US military personnel online.
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