Cyber-Attacks

Cyber-attacks expected to rise amid Israel-Hamas conflict, Australia warned

According to a top cybersecurity group, the Israel-Hamas conflict is likely to result in Australian companies being attacked online by politically driven threat actors.

According to CyberCX's intelligence update on 10 October, research of threat group activity after Israel formally declared war on 8 October revealed that at least 30 organizations ideologically connected with Russia, Ukraine, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have modified their rhetoric on social media.

Many groups who were previously focused on Russia's invasion of Ukraine have refocused on the Israel-Hamas conflict in recent days, according to CyberCX.

"It is likely that pro-Russia groups already known to target AUNZ will use the conflict and political responses to it - including physical protests in Australia - as a pretext to increase their campaigns in AUNZ," the analysts said.

Two of the organizations identified by CyberCX as mobilizing in the present battle are two that have recently attacked Australia, including one that purportedly took down the Department of Home Affairs website for five hours last week. The pro-Russia Anonymous Sudan group, which claimed responsibility for at least 24 distributed denial-of-service assaults on Australian businesses, has also mobilized in the present battle.

According to CyberCX, the most likely reaction targeting Australia would be DDoS assaults, which involve flooding a site with bandwidth in a concerted effort to render that service inaccessible. The danger would be greater for vital infrastructure services such as finance, energy, utilities, or government, as well as companies having a presence or relationship in Israel or the surrounding area.

While there is a strong possibility that Australian and New Zealand groups may be attacked in direct retaliation to the government's denunciation of Hamas in the coming month, the business believes that other areas will be a higher priority target in the short term.

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that since the crisis began, certain groups, including those with links to Russia, have begun assaulting the Israeli government and media websites. Rob Joyce, the cybersecurity director of the US National Security Agency, stated earlier this week that there had been no big cyber-attacks due to the conflict thus far.

The organization claiming to have taken down the Home Affairs website last week claimed to have done so in retaliation to Australia's sustained support for Ukraine in the face of Russian invasion.