Israel Vows Response To Hacking

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon warned of a potential Israeli response to the hacking.

Israel has vowed to respond to the publication of thousands of Israelis’ credit-card details by a computer hacker.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said such cyberattacks were a "breach of sovereignty comparable to a terrorist operation," and warned that Israel has the capability to strike back.

"Israel has an enormous ability to protect itself and I reckon that we will do so and find all of the breaches,” Ayalon said on January 7.

“Some sort of message must be relayed -- that whoever harms Israel, or is planning to harm Israel, or trying to harm Israel, including in cyberspace, will be harmed," he added. "That is to say, they will not be immune from Israeli retaliatory action."

His remarks came days after a hacker, who has indentified himself as being based in Saudi Arabia, said he had leaked on to the Internet private credit-card information on thousands of Israelis.

The Reuters news agency, quoting credit-card companies, reported that the details of around 25,000 card numbers, some of them expired, had been exposed.

Unconfirmed Israeli news reports have said the hacker may be a 19-year-old who has been living in Mexico.

compiled from agency reports