Jerusalem municipality shuts down digital services after hack

The Jerusalem municipality announced Friday that due to suspected cyber attacks, all municipal digital services — including its website and smartphone app — have been shut down in order to prevent any harm to its servers. 

Earlier this week, hackers attempted to target a new server that the municipality was testing. Jerusalem officials stressed in a statement that this server was not central to its operations. The hack was “discovered immediately and dealt with quickly and professionally,” it said. 

The hacks came a week before the annual OpIsrael cyber campaign, during which an international collective of hackers known as “Anonymous” targets websites and social media accounts of the Israeli government and other major organizations, in solidarity with the Palestinians.

The event has been held on April 7 every year since 2013, where the participants have attempted to gain access to Israelis’ personal emails and credit card information.

In 2015, the hackers had warned of an “electronic holocaust” that would strike Israeli sites.

The annual attacks have thus far not caused major disruption of internet services in Israel, and have failed to bring down any major government websites.