Cyberattack On Israeli Hospitals Led By 'Palestinian' Hacker

Israeli cyber security researchers are claiming that the virus that attacked computers in two Israeli hospitals last week was released by a hacker who identifies himself as a Palestinian.

The virus is a spy tool designed to extract information. The virus that infected dozens of computers in the hospitals is capable of recording desktop displays and keylogging, which allows hackers to steal usernames and passwords to various services and sites, the analysis conducted by an IT firm disclosed.

The information that was stolen was received by a domain known as Palestineop.com, revealing the hacker’s identity, Jerusalemonline.com reported Tuesday.

Hackers linked to organizations such as Hamas and Anonymous were behind them in most of the previous cyberattacks that were carried out against Israeli institutions.

"Of the 8 hospitals suspected to have been hacked, only 2 were actually attacked; the other 6 were false alarms"  Prime Minister of Israel tweeted Thursday.

"No damage was caused and continuity of function was not impaired. The incident was unrelated to the global attack." he mentioned in a twitter.

Israel’s National Cyber Authority had stated that several attempts were made on Wednesday evening to gain access to the computer networks of several Israeli hospitals by hackers.

The SGX malware infected 50 computers at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Baruch Padeh Medical Center and the Galilee Medical Center. The anti-virus software on tens of thousands of computers at the hospitals successfully identified the malware and prevented the cyberattack from taking place.