Is the Middle East on the verge of cyber war?
In a new front to the decades-long conflict, cyber attacks are taking place between Israeli and Saudi hackers.
A hacker claiming to be from Saudi Arabia has paralysed the websites of the Israeli stock exchange and the national carrier. This cyber offensive was the latest one in a series of attacks over the past two weeks, which also saw the credit card details of thousands of Israeli citizens leaked online.
In response an Israeli hacker stole 85,000 Facebook logins from Arab users as well as thousands of credit card details of residents of the Gulf region.
But are these hackers acting on their own initiative? And is the web the new battlefield between Israel and the Arabs?
Inside Story, with presenter Dareen Abu Ghaida, discusses with guests: Nikki Moore, a technology writer and expert on internet security; Dave Clemente, a researcher with the International Security Programme at Chatham House; and Abdullah Schleifer, a professor of journalism and senior fellow at the Center for Journalism at the American University in Cairo.
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“We in Hamas praise the successes Arab hackers have achieved in targeting a number of Israeli sites – and the harm they have caused to the interests of Israeli occupation …” Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesperson |