Hackers Attack Israeli Defense Ministry Computers

(FNA)- Hackers attacked Israeli computers including one used by the defense ministry department dealing with civilians in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli data protection expert disclosed on Monday.

"At the beginning of this month a number of mails were sent to a number of companies in Israel, including security organizations," Aviv Raff, chief technology officer at Israeli cyber security firm Seculert told army radio, AFP reported.

"There was an attachment... and whoever opened it was infected with a virus, a Trojan Horse, which allowed the attackers to control those computers. One of the computers belonged to the Civil Administration," he said in reference to the defense ministry department, which is staffed by the military.

Asked to comment on the report, the military said in a written statement to AFP, "The reports of the incident are currently being looked into".

Raff did not identify the source of the attack but the radio said it was "apparently from Gaza" and added that 15 Israeli computers were targeted.

Raff said that the virus allowed the attacker "complete control of the infected computers. The attackers could carry out any operation within that network."

"The moment that we detected it we cancelled the hackers' control and notified the relevant authorities," he added.