An Iranian hacker group calling itself “Promised Revenge” claimed on Saturday that it had breached the infrastructure of the Knesset website.
According to the hackers, who posted the information on their Telegram channel, they stole sensitive data and sent SMS messages to millions of Israeli citizens.
A spokesperson for the Israeli parliament denied that data was acquired by hackers.
The Knesset website was unavailable for a short period and displayed a maintenance message. It was not the first time the site has been down in recent weeks, displaying the same message and preventing access.
As part of the supposed evidence of the breach, the group released several screenshots it claims were taken from the Knesset’s internal network. However, it did not provide additional information to verify its claims.
The hackers also claim that they sent around four million SMS messages to Israelis, purportedly on behalf of the Knesset.
In response, the Knesset’s spokesperson stated: “The Knesset website contains public information available as part of the Transparent Knesset project, which aims to make information accessible to citizens. The Knesset’s Cyber Department identified a suspected hacking attempt and successfully blocked it in real-time.
“It should be emphasized that the Knesset website is isolated from other Knesset networks, and at this stage, there is no concern about the leak of sensitive or current information that could be used. For added security, the Knesset’s cyber teams, in collaboration with the National Cyber Directorate, continue to conduct checks.”
This is an edited version of a story originally published by Israel Hayom.
