Israeli media: Cyber attack on government websites widespread

• 

Israeli newspaper The Marker reported that a number of Israeli websites were down as a result of the cyber attack that targeted the occupation's ministry websites and shut them down on Monday evening.

The daily said that it is still unclear whether the attack was unusually widespread and dramatic, adding that it may still not be over yet.

Haaretz reported a security source as saying that this cyber attack was the most widespread against "Israel", despite it not being sophisticated, adding that "it is estimated that a large state or organization is behind the attack."

"Israel" Hayom said that the sites collapsed for long minutes, and were active again after the Israeli National Cyber System intervened. 

Moreover, the paper added that "At a suspicious time, close to the time when the sites collapsed, a statement was published in Hebrew by a telegram group affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which read 'surprise'."

• 

Iranian media announced on Monday that Tehran thwarted an attempt by a Mossad officer to reach the IR6 centrifuges at the Fordow Enrichment Plan.

Israeli website Calcalist reported Rafael Franco, the Deputy Head of the National Cyber System, as saying that he considers the cyber attack to be potentially in retaliation to other events related to ongoing Israeli-Iranian standoffs, adding that last weekend a hacker group named  Black Shadow, said to be affiliated with Iran, was behind cyberattacks on the diamond exchange.

A blackout affected all websites of the Israeli government, causing users to lose access to the cabinet's pages, Israeli media reported Monday.

Users reported that they were unable to load the Israeli websites, Israeli media added, noting that even the occupation's ministers were unable to log onto the websites.