Israeli official labels credit card hacking 'terrorism'

[News_Editor]

Israeli official labels credit card hacking 'terrorism'

2012-01-09 01:56:07 GMT+7 (ICT)

JERUSALEM (BNO NEWS) -- An Israeli official is calling a Saudi Arabian hacker who allegedly stole and published thousands of credit cards numbers online a terrorist, local media reported on Sunday.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Sunday morning, in a speech that was covered by Al-Jazeera, that the hacking of nearly 400,000 Israeli credit card numbers, many of which ended up being leaked on the internet, was comparable to a terrorist operation. "[The actions were a] breach of sovereignty comparable to a terrorist operation, and must be treated as such", he said.

The hacker, who identified himself as "OxOmar" from Saudi Arabia, boasted Thursday about releasing private information of some 400,000 Israelis. But an Israeli credit card company confirmed only about 25,000 accounts had been posted as of Friday, and noted some of them were no longer active accounts.

Although the hacker seems to claim he is a lone-wolf, Israel says they still are investigating the possibility that the hacking was done by a large operation 'more sophisticated and complicated' than one person.

Local newspaper Haaretz earlier reported that a blogger, who investigated the incident, had theorized that the real hacker may be a 19-year-old from the United Arabic Emirates (UAE), who is attending school and working in Mexico. Israeli officials said it was aware of the theory but has not been in contact with Mexican authorities.

In an interview with Gawker.com, the alleged hacker said he obtained the credit card information by hacking around 80 Israeli shopping sites. "It took me about 6 months to find targets and hack them," he said.

When asked why he did it, 'OxOmar' said: "Israel kills Israeli innocent people, it's what their government do, it's their daily business, they do not obey any law, international law, so I want to harm them in ANY way I can."

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-01-09

[TAWP]

Which ofcourse is nuts to claim.

[koheesti]

Stealing credit card numbers IS NOT terrorism.

The guy who did it - "OxOmar" - apparently has some technical skills but based on his last quote in the OP he is otherwise a moron.

[Jingthing]

Stealing credit card numbers IS NOT terrorism.

...

Agreed.

[Scott]

Please stay on the topic of the OP and let's refrain from straying on to other subjects.

One post deleted.

[Ulysses G.]

It is not terrorism. It is criminal behavior.

Edited January 8, 2012 by Ulysses G.

[Pakboong]

Actually this could be considered an act of terrorism as it was directed at Israelis hoping for destruction of a people in general and not personal gain. His reason was a political one. It is a crime in that terrorism is a crime.

[Jingthing]

It was a non-violent attack on a specific nation for political motives. It doesn't meet the definition of terrorism. Why overuse it as there is really quite enough of the real thing?

[geriatrickid]

The Israeli official that made the claim of terrorism needs a kick in his pants. He should be asking the Israeli credit card units and banks how it happened and why there was no security. A 19 year old does it. Wonderful. Seems to me Israel has a much bigger problem now. I wonder how close this minister is to the banks.

My hunch is that terrorism losses are covered under the government insurance pool, whereas criminal hacking is not. Follow the conflict of interest trail.

Israeli politicians can make Thai politicians seem honest in comparison.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Scott
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[Jingthing]

The Israeli official that made the claim of terrorism needs a kick in his pants. He should be asking the Israeli credit card units and banks how it happened and why there was no security. A 19 year old does it. Wonderful. Seems to me Israel has a much bigger problem now. I wonder how close this minister is to the banks.

My hunch is that terrorism losses are covered udner the government insurance pool, whereas criminal hacking is not. Follow the conflict of interest trail.

Israeli politicians can make Thai politicians seem honest in comparison.

He's only a DEPUTY official. It seems people are inflating the importance of a stupid statement by one government official. The hacking was still a serious crime. I would call your "hunch" a total fiction in your own mind unless you actually have some evidence about that. Edited January 9, 2012 by Jingthing

[GentlemanJim]

By calling this an act of terrorism the official diminishes the real application of the word. The problem with that is that once we start labeling everything as Terrorism we become desensitized to it's use and will no longer take the subject matter seriously, which is a bit of an issue if you are dealing with a terrorist bomber as opposed to a terrorist who hacks websites. It was a foolish thing to say, I imagine he has had his knuckles rapped already.

As for the 19 year old, seems a top level security service needs to pay him 100k a year to help make sites un-hackable, redirect his undisputed skill-set so to speak.