WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Hackers have recently hacked into a number of popular travel booking websites in the Israeli-occupied territories, managing to obtain the personal information of over 300,000 Zionists.
The incident occurred two weeks ago and was confirmed by the regime’s privacy protection authority on Thursday evening.
The attack affected websites operated by Gol Tours LTD, a tourist company that owns over 20 travel booking websites.
The leaked information includes telephone numbers, addresses, dates and locations of booked vacations, and sensitive medical information, the authority said in a statement.
The privacy protection authority said it had immediately contacted the owner of Gol Tours LTD following the hack, in an effort to address the security flaws that the hackers took advantage of, but was met with a refusal to cooperate.
“The required changes were not made,” the authority said, noting that it has launched an investigation into the incident.
The authority has also claimed, according to a report by Channel 12 news, that the owner of Gol Tours LTD refused to address the security breaches because it would have cost him money to do so.
The report added that the owner also ignored instructions provided by the regime’s cyber directorate following the hack, meant to help the company bolster its security and avoid additional information being leaked to the hackers.
Regime officials raided on Thursday the company’s offices and seized its servers until the investigation is complete.
Responding to the allegations, the owner of Gol Tours LTD rejected the claims and said the authority has treated him worse than the hackers ever did.
“I never said I wouldn’t upgrade [the company’s online security measures] because it would cost me money, never,” he told Channel 12.
The incident comes weeks after the regime’s communications firms were instructed to bolster cybersecurity, as the regime rolled out a new initiative against online attacks amid an uptick in hacks targeting the regime’s websites.