Op-Israel is the name given to a campaign of cyber-attacks carried out by hackers identified with
the international anarchic group ‘Anonymous’, and with pro-Palestinian hacker groups, against
Israeli Internet sites with the goal “to disconnect Israel from the cyber world”.

The first Op-Israel campaign was carried out during Operation “Pillar of Defense” on the eve of
Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 7, 2013. Since that operation, the campaign became a
tradition and every year on this date an organized cyber-attack is launched against Israeli Web sites.
The Op-Israel campaign includes a variety of attacks, including “crashing” Web sites and preventing
them from providing services, hacking databases and leaking information, and taking control of
Web site interfaces and defacing pages. The attacks are directed against government Web sites,
financial institutions (banks, insurance companies), public Web sites as well as commercial and
private sites with a relatively low level of protection.

The economic damage caused as a result of these attacks is unclear but it seems that it is not
substantial as the significant Web sites that were attacked suffered short-term disruptions, at most.
The other sites, which had a low level of protection, primarily suffered damage from defacement
and takeovers. Nevertheless, it is important to note the psychological aspects that constitute a
significant component in the campaign, which was originally designed to influence public
awareness.

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