Anti-Israel hackers have published extensive amounts of classified data as Israel continues its struggle to contain leaks, Turkey-based Anadolu Agency reported, citing the Israeli daily Haaretz. The leaks involve tens of thousands of sensitive documents and emails stolen from Israeli institutions, including the Justice Ministry, it reported. The cyber attacks, that started on October 7, 2023, have targeted several entities, including military and defence contractors, hospitals and government ministries.
Israel's cybersecurity infrastructure has been overwhelmed by the scale of the breach. A source close to the investigation said, "The true extent of the damage to Israel's security and economy caused by these leaks is not yet fully known," the Turkey-based Anadolu Agency reported. The source added, "Despite massive investment in defensive cybersecurity measures, the scale of the leaks is likely the most severe in Israel's history -- an unprecedented looting of gigabytes upon gigabytes of information of all sorts," the report said.
The leaked data has appeared on platforms like Telegram, resulting in several takedown attempts by Israeli authorities. However, Telegram's limited moderation policies have complicated these efforts. "Telegram emerged at the start of the war as a key platform utilized by Hamas' information warfare against Israel, one Israel was unable to properly address, lacking both monitoring capabilities and an understanding of the platform," Anadolu Agency repor.