JWed, a leading online dating platform for Jewish singles seeking marriage, was the target of a cyberattack in the early morning hours of Tisha B’Av. A consortium of Arab hackers orchestrated the unauthorized transfer of the jwed.com domain in an attempt to extort the company.
Critically, the attack did not breach JWed’s secure infrastructure or user database. Instead, it involved an illegal domain name transfer, after which the hackers demanded a ransom in exchange for its return.
“These were professional hackers who knew what they were doing,” said Derek Saker, co-founder and CEO of JWed. “But they never imagined the speed and collective efforts of the companies involved, to counter the attack and retrieve the illegal transfer of our domain.”
Upon discovering the breach, JWed’s IT team, along with co-founder Ben Rabizadeh, immediately launched an emergency response effort. Despite it being a Sunday—when many service providers offer limited support—the team acted swiftly. Rabizadeh was able to directly reach senior contacts at the companies involved via LinkedIn, expediting action that led to the successful recovery of the domain within hours.
Such domain thefts often take days or even weeks to resolve, Saker noted, even when there is clear evidence of criminal activity. The complexity of digital crime—spanning jurisdictions, continents and legal systems—can slow down efforts to recover stolen assets and prosecute offenders.
Since October 7, cyberattacks against Jewish websites have surged by 872%. Over the past 12 months, there has been an average of 35.7 million malicious HTTP requests targeting Jewish websites—a 2,190% increase compared to 2022.
Saker commended the support of cybersecurity provider Cloudflare and its initiative, Project Galileo, which offers complimentary security tools and services to vulnerable groups, including Jewish organizations. Saker also feels that more such companies need to step up to the plate.
JWed informed law enforcement and is continuing to work with multiple agencies and organizations to both raise awareness of the increasing threats and pursue prosecution.
