Hackers Claim Responsibility for Israeli Power Outages

The Anonymous Sudan hacker group claimed to be behind wide-ranging power outages that hit cities across Israel on Thursday afternoon. Power outages were reported in several cities, including Tel Aviv and the nearby cities of Bnei Brak, Jaffa, Lod, Rehovot and Petach Tikva, as well as Be’er Sheva and Teveria.

“Due to a glitch in one of the Haifa power plants, power outages are being felt in a number of areas around the country,” the Electric Company’s spokesperson said in a statement about the outages. “Regular power supply was renewed to a number of areas and will be fully renewed in the next few minutes.”

Anonymous Sudan, however, claimed responsibility, writing “is darkness good? Why don’t you have electricity?”

The hacker group has been responsible for cyberattacks on websites across a variety of Israeli sectors in the past couple of months.

On Wednesday, as Israel marked its Independence Day, the group struck at Israeli news sites as well as the Defense Ministry and the Shin Bet.

IEC Director General told Reshet Bet Radio that the power outage was likely a “technical fault caused by excessive consumption” and that “it almost certainly was not a cyberattack.”