Israeli cyber warfare professionals targeted human rights and anti-war activists across the USA in late July and August temporarily disrupting communications, harassing hundreds of computer users,and annoying thousands more.The Israeli hackers targeted Stephen "Sami" Mashney, an
Anaheim, California, attorney active in the effort to raise awareness of the plight of Palestinians. He said, "This attack is backfiring on the hackers. Many people are being educated." Mashney, who co-manages a pro-Palestinian e-mail list hosted by Yahoo! logged onto his Internet accounts on July 31 to find hundreds of e-mail messages from angry Americans. He quickly realized that hackers had appropriated or "spoofed" his e-mail addresses and identity and sent out a message titled "Down With America" in his name.
Dr. Francis A. Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois, a member of Free Palestine and other activist lists, Dr. Boyle was also targeted by Israeli hackers who sent counterfeit e-mails in his name. Israeli hackers also targeted Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, associate professor at the Yale University School of Medicine.
Monica Terazi is with the American Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee (ADC). Terazi's e-mail privileges were yanked by Yahoo! for a time after hackers "spoofed" her e-mail address and identity to send a message to some 80 Yahoo! groups.
By mid August, the Israeli hackers had begun to target activists in Iowa, where it seems the Israeli hackers have "technically intruded" into computers. Iowa activists report that people and organizations on their private e-mail lists suddenly found themselves receiving tens, hundreds, or thousands of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian "spam" e-mails per day.
When the Israeli hackers "spoofed" an Iowa-based e-mail address, they invited a response they did not expect. Because the list was hosted by Iowa State University (ISU) where one of the world's first electronic digital computers was invented in a Physics Department laboratory. ISU Physics Department computer administrator Dr. Bassam Shehadeh decided to track the hackers down.
"The hackers access the internet via an ISP called Palnet.com on the West Bank," said Shehadeh. When Palnet.com did not respond to his repeated e-mail enquiries, Shehadeh called the company, informed their representative that Palnet facilities were being used to interfere with communications at a state institution in the USA, and demanded an explanation. He provided information that enabled Palnet technicians to identify the phone number of the customer harassing Iowans. "Everyone here is a victim but the hackers," said Shehadeh. "The hackers use stolen identification to get access to Palnet."
Shehadeh said the contact line the hackers used for at least one message to the AIC list address was an Israeli number in West Jerusalem or one of the surrounding settlements. A Palnet representative also told Shehadeh the hackers have used several lines and methods to access Palnet's facilities.
"Afterwards, the hackers compromise another service system here in the USA by passing the e-mail message with Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), using HELO verb. The hackers don't have a valid principal host but overcome that by using a bracketed Internet Protocol number (IP address) at a location anywhere on the web. Web hosting servers tricked into transferring these e-mails include Digital Cube, Inc., Verizon DSL Network, and Iowa Online Web Access located in Washington, Iowa," said Shehadeh
Shehadeh reports that ISPs and companies with IP addresses are typically cooperative when notified that their equipment is being misused. Most act promptly to end the hackers' access.
Given widespread and systematic destruction of electronic communications facilities by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in the (Palestinian) West Bank in recent months, the continued existence of Palnet facilities suggests that the Israeli government had reason to permit Palnet's continued operation and raises questions about the ability of Palnet's owners to refuse service to Israeli hackers or otherwise interfere with their activities.
This particular campaign in the Israeli cyber war seemed to have been curtailed, at least temporarily, on August 29, soon after Shehadeh tracked the hackers to the West Bank ISP and, finally, to an Israeli phone number, while other computer professionals in the USA, along with some of the targeted activists themselves, quietly contacted management representatives at various IP addresses around the globe and notified them that their facilities were being abused.
Condensed from: " Israeli Computer Hackers Foiled, Exposed" Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Sept. 3, 2002 http://www.wrmea.com/archives/august2002/0208toc.html