By Jordan Valinsky 5/27 10:07am

Facebook Faceoff

He's in South Korea. (Photo: Flickr.com/gpaumier)

Hey Mark Zuckerberg, the Israeli Government Would Like to See You About Some Parody Accounts

Israel just discovered parody Facebook accounts and that’s bad news for Mark Zuckerberg. Moshe Gafni, a parliament member for an ulta-Orthodox sect, is so annoyed that a fake account containing his name was being used to impersonate him that he’s now demanding to speak in-person with the Facebook CEO.

After repeated complaints to Facebook for the page’s removal went unanswered, Mr. Gafni asked the parliament’s Science and Technology Committee, which he happens to head, to convene for an urgent discussion about the  Read More

By Steve Huff 11/28/12 3:09pm

Hack Hack Hack Hack It Apart

The International Atomic Energy Agency

Hackers Steal and Publish Data Stolen From U.N. Nuclear Watchdog

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported a striking security breach Tuesday, admitting that hackers had stolen information from one of its servers and published it online.

According to Reuters, a group with “an Iranian-sounding name” published the information and requested a probe into Israel’s nuclear program.  The IAEA is already wary of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Reuters reports the theft may not have compromised much in the way of confidential data: Read More

By Steve Huff 11/21/12 3:15pm

Hack Hack Hack Hack It Apart

screengrab

Pro-Gaza Hackers Completely Dismantle Israeli Official’s Social Media

Israel and Hamas may have agreed to cease hostilities on “land sea and air” but that may not stop the cyberwar. On Wednesday the ZCompany Hacking Crew (ZHC) hacked apart the online life of Israel’s Vice Prime Minister, Silvan Shalom. ZHC took over Mr. Shalom’s Facebook, Twitter account, his blog–just about everything. ZHC tweeted that their control was almost total: Read More

By Jessica Roy 11/19/12 8:34am

Linkages

So close to this, you guys. (Photo: Pinterest, duh)

Booting Up: Even a Billion Dollars Isn’t Cool Edition

Actually, being in the billion dollar startup club kind of sucks. [New York Times]

Any person with children who purchases a computer in the U.K. will be forced to apply anti-porn safety controls to it, because there’s absolutely no way kids who want to look at porn will be able to get around that. [Daily Mail]

Cisco balls so hard they just dished out $1.2 billion in cash for Meraki, a wifi startup. [TechCrunch]

How did nerds impact the election? Turns out 30,000 Redditors registered to vote after President Obama linked to a voter registration page in his AMA. [The Atlantic]

According to U.S. search results, Americans care more about Twinkies than the Israel/Gaza conflict. We are all the worst. [Virtus Machina]

By Jessica Roy 11/15/12 1:24pm

Twitter War

(Screencap: Twitter)

Social Media Companies Have Absolutely No Idea How to Handle the Gaza Conflict

After announcing their intention to attack Hamas on Twitter, the Israeli Defense Force began military operations in Gaza yesterday. The Alqassam Brigades, Hamas’s military arm, also has a Twitter account, and the two have been engaging in a sparring match on the platform that elevates typically meaningless Twitter tiffs into the stuff of WWIII nightmares.

Aside from updating their followers on the death toll and the status of military strikes, both accounts have tweeted photos of children (warning: both links are graphic) injured or killed in the conflict. The IDF is letting no social media channel go untouched. They’ve been uploading photos of their operations to Flickr and Pinterest and publishing status updates to their official Facebook page. They also just started a Tumblr account that is littered with pro-Israel propaganda, including a photo showing a cartoon of an Israeli family in the crosshairs of a Hamas target with the message “Israeli civilians are Hamas’s target.” Read More

By Jessica Roy 11/15/12 9:25am

Hack Hack Hack Hack It Apart

(Screencap: Falcon-s.co.il)

Anonymous Launches #OPIsrael in Response to Israel’s Live-Tweeted Attack on Gaza

Yesterday, the Israeli Defense Force announced on Twitter it would begin military operations on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. Though social media has long been used as a tool of dissent that can help foment revolution, declaring war on Twitter is a first, and it’s a move that raises serious questions about war and propaganda in the age of the internet. Now Anonymous, the loose collective of hacktivists, has set its sights on the IDF, launching #OPIsrael in response to the country’s decision to shut down internet service in Gaza. Read More

By Jessica Roy 8/22/12 2:46pm

Summer Fun

(Photo: Fan Pop)

Asses Now Equipped With Wifi

Just because you want to simulate living in ancient Galilee times doesn’t mean you won’t want to check your email while doing so. Kfar Kedem park in Israel has outfitted donkeys with wireless routers so that users can check into “My Ass” on Foursquare. Ah, ain’t the future grand?

By Nitasha Tiku 6/11/12 11:29am

Flame I'm Gonna Live Forever

Cue the Conspiracy Theories: Parts of Flame Virus Are Nearly Identical to Stuxnet

It’s going to be even harder for President Obama to distance himself from Stuxnet now. As Reuters reports, Kaspersky Lab, a leading computer security firm in Moscow, has discovered that portions of code in the newer Flame virus are “nearly identical” to code in Stuxnet, the cyber weapon reportedly used by the United States and Israel to disrupt Iran’s nuclear initiatives.

This new discovery is likely to fuel theories from security experts that Stuxnet was part of an American-led cyber program “that is still active in the Middle East and perhaps other parts of the world,” says Reuters. Not the best way to win those hearts and minds! Read More