The Palestine Chronicle news network is a leading, independent Palestinian news organization. B’Tselem is a renowned Israeli human rights group.
Editor’s Note: Even though Deflect has issued a report focusing on both The Palestine Chronicle and B’tselem, the Wall Street Journal has picked up the report focusing on the B’tselem case, making no mention of The Palestine Chronicle.
In parallel with the outbreak of the latest Israeli war on Gaza, following Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7, a different kind of violence has been unleashed in the digital realm.
Cyberattacks against Palestinian or pro-Palestinian websites have witnessed a spike, as explained by a report by the provider a website security service that hosts the Palestine Chronicle, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, and other independent media and human rights organizations.
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Deflect shared a report with The Palestine Chronicle, recording repeated attacks against our website and the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem.
“Since Oct 7, 2023, Deflect (…) recorded 11 significant DoS/DDoS attacks against the Palestinian news website (palestinechronicle.com), with a total of 7 million malicious hits in various attack formations,” the report read.
“We observed significant overlaps in attack IPs across various DDoS attacks on palestinechronicle.com and btselem.org websites, suggesting coordinated attempts by the perpetrators,” the report added.
Facebook Threatens to Delete Palestine Chronicle Page, Censors Its Staff
What was the Scale of these Attacks?
According to the report, B’tselem “faced attacks resulting in 54 million web requests”, while the Palestine Chronicle “experienced 7 million web requests.”
“Think of these as millions of unwanted phone calls jamming up a hotline,” the Deflect report explains.
“Our protective measures, think of them as security guards or filters, worked well in most cases. They were able to identify and block these harmful requests, preventing significant disruptions. However, attackers are persistent, and they keep trying various methods to bypass our defenses.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
