Two Facebook group pages, each of which had over a million followers, have been removed by Meta (formerly known as Facebook) following a report by Israel Hayom some two months ago about the nature of their content.

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In the past few months, watchdog groups Im Tirzu and Lach, Yerushalayim ("For You, Jerusalem") led a campaign seeking to shut down the pages, which were titled Kikar Jerusalem (Jerusalem Square) and Al Qastal. Both these pages claimed to "report" from east Jerusalem, but actually became pages that published messages supporting terrorists in prison in Israel and terrorists who were killed while attempting to carry out attacks.

The pages also advocated for the release of terrorist prisoners being held by Israel and for Israel to release the bodies of terrorists it is currently holding.

Meirav and Herzl Hajaj, members of the Choosing Life forum who lost their daughter Shir Hajaj to a car ramming attack in Jerusalem and who were part of the campaign to have a page that praised the terrorist responsible for the attack taken down, said, "Finally, Facebook understood that a page that praises murderous terrorists causes more Jews to be murdered. Finally they realized that our daughter's blood is not forfeit."

Matan Peleg, chairman of Im Tirzu, and Maor Tzemach, chairman of Lach, Yerushalayim, said, "This is an important day in the war on terrorism and incitement. We thank Facebook for the important decision."

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Avi Gabay, the chief executive of Israeli telecom group Cellcom, announced his resignation, the company said on Sunday. No date for the end of his tenure was set.

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Gabay took over as CEO of Cellcom, Israel's largest mobile phone operator in January of 2020. Since then, the company bought smaller rival Golan Telecom, which boosted its subscriber base.

"We have recently managed to get it back on track for investment and profitability. Now is the time for me to take on new challenges," Gabay said in a statement.

Cellcom last week had reported it moved to a profit of 13 million shekels ($4 million) in the quarter, versus a 37 million shekel loss a year earlier. Revenue rose 4% to 994 million shekels, helped by increased roaming charges with COVID-19 restrictions on tourism slowly easing. read more

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Rehovot-based foodtech startup Redefine Meat has launched of the first-ever category of plant-based whole cuts that achieve a level of product quality comparable to high-quality animal meat, the company announced Tuesday.

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Initially available at select restaurants in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Israel, this marks the first time that high-end restaurants will offer plant-based whole cuts as part of their menus. The range of New-Meat products includes beef and lamb cuts, as well as premium-quality burgers, sausages, lamb kebabs, and ground beef.

Eshchar Ben-Shitrit, co-founder and CEO of Redefine Meat said: "Over the past few weeks at COP26, we've seen world leaders commit to landmark goals such as the elimination of all deforestation by 2030, which requires a significant reduction in global meat consumption. Redefine Meat has its eyes set on the real problem – not meat, but the way it's produced. We have a genuine solution that today, not in 2030, preserves all the culinary aspects of meat we know and love, but eliminates cattle as a means of production.

"We've achieved a level of superiority in taste and texture that surprised even some of the most recognized chefs in the world, and our unique technological capabilities enable us to replace every part of the cow for the first time. By continuing our close collaboration with the top-tier culinary world, we will accelerate our product rollout in the coming months – beginning with Europe and followed by the USA and Asia – and launch within multiple distribution channels next year," Ben-Shitrit added.

Redefine Meat's products were recently served at a private blind-tasting event for top UK chefs, where they received further praise.

British chef and restaurateur Marco Pierre White, the youngest chef to be awarded three Michelin stars, said: "When I first tasted Redefine Meat, I was mind-blown. The world needs to eat less meat, but the reality is that until now plant-based meat products have fallen way short in terms of the quality and versatility required for our menus. Redefine Meat's New-Meat products are pure genius, giving you all the sustainability and health benefits of plant-based, without the compromise on taste and texture."

Michelin-starred Dutch chef and TV personality Ron Blaauw, added: "Honestly, I was so surprised by the texture and structure of the meat. The first time I tried it, I remember closing my eyes and appreciating the chewiness and mouthfeel like I would a great cut of meat. For me this is a gamechanger, as we can now serve another variety of high-quality meat to our customers that just happens to be made from plant-based ingredients. Even now my head is still spinning with the possibilities this meat creates for our menu."

Joachim Gerner, head chef at Restaurant FACIL in Berlin (two Michelin stars) also added: "While we've seen the quality of plant-based meat products increase in recent years, this by far comes the closest to animal meat. I see huge potential for these products with meat lovers."

Israeli chef Shahaf Shabtay said, "My cuisine is truly global, inspired by my favorite influences from kitchens across Asia, Europe and Latin America. Redefine Meat has created an ingredient that allows me to unleash full creativity and create dream menus whatever the cuisine. As a chef, the ability to cook for every type of diner – vegetarian, vegan, kosher and more – without barriers or compromise, using a variety of techniques including roasting, grilling, and slow cooking, is quite simply incredible."

New Meat is currently available at the following fine dining establishments:

Marco Pierre White's Steak Houses (22 restaurants across the UK)

Chotto Matte (London)

Brigadiers (London)

Burger Bear (London)

Ron Gastrobar (Amsterdam)

Ron Gastrobar Oriental (Amsterdam)

Ron Gastrobar Indonesia Downtown (Amsterdam)

Ron Gastrobar Indonesia (Amstelveen)

NENI Amsterdam (Amsterdam)

RDM Hospitality Group's Coffee Bar (Tel Aviv)

RDM Hospitality Group's Herzl 16 (Tel Aviv)

Hotel Montefiore (Tel Aviv)

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The Israeli military has increased in surveillance efforts across the West Bank, including expanding the use of facial recognition technology, The Washington Post reported Monday.

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The "Blue Wolf" surveillance initiative, rolled out over the past two years, "involves in part a smartphone technology that captures photos of Palestinians' faces" and matches them to security forces' database of suspected terrorist operatives.

According to the report, a color-coded system alerts he soldiers monitoring it in real-time if anyone is flagged by the software as a match.

The report said that in addition to Blue Wolf, the IDF has installed a wide network of face-scanning cameras in various hotspots across the West Bank, so as to help soldiers at checkpoints identify Palestinians even before they present their ID cards.

In Hebron, for example, the military has deployed a wide network of CCTV cameras, to provide real-time monitoring of the city's population.

The Washington Post noted that to build the database used by Blue Wolf, "soldiers competed in photographing Palestinians, with prizes for the most pictures collected by each unit. The total number of people photographed rans well into the thousands."

The IDF said deploying the sophisticated system was "part of the defense establishment's war on terror and the efforts to improve the quality of life for the Palestinian population in Judea and Samaria.

"Naturally, we cannot comment on the IDF's operational capabilities in this context," the statement added.

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Hours after leaking the personal details of users of an LGBTQ dating app, Iran-affiliated hacker group Black Shadow continued to wreak havoc Tuesday night as it released private information on nearly 300,000 Israelis receiving medical treatment at the Mor Institute, including patient requests and test results.

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Patients' credit card information does not appear to have been leaked at this time.

Black Shadow also published information on some 30,000 registered users of 103FM Radio's website and nearly 500,000 customers of Locker Ambin Ltd.

As was the case in the Atraf leak, the hackers shared the information via an Excel file shared with a new group they created on Telegram. The hackers also provided links allowing others to download information obtained from the Atraf app. The messaging app was forced to take action on the matter after being ordered to do so by the State Attorney's Office.

On Friday evening, BlackShadow announced it had hacked the servers of Israeli internet company Cyberserve. The hackers shuttered the company's servers and threatened to leak data pertaining to hundreds of thousands of users.

Cyberserve is a web hosting company that provides servers and data storage for companies such as the Kan public broadcaster, the Israel Lottery, Taglit-Birthright, the Dan and Kavim public transportation companies, the Children's Museum in Holon, LGBTQ dating app "Atraf," tour booking company Pegasus, the Israeli Children's Museum, and dozens of other sites.

BlackShadow first surfaced last year, with a massive breach of Israeli insurance company Shirbit and later of KLS Capital. Information from both companies' clients was leaked in the days following the breach.

The group, which had threatened to leak the data obtained from Atraf if a $1 million ransom was not paid within 48 hours, claimed to have leaked the entire user database after its demands were not met Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, another group of hackers known as Moses Staff claimed to have broken into the databases of three Israeli engineering firms: H.G.M. Engineering, David Engineer, and Ehud Leviathan Engineering. Moses Staff leaked personal information of those companies' clients, including their identification numbers.

The hackers claimed to "have all of the data and projects of the engineering companies we breached, including maps, pictures of letters, contracts, and more. You can download some of this data from the link below. The company's information will be published gradually," they said.

Moses Staff previously claimed to have accessed information on Defense Minister Benny Gantz and released some of his personal photographs and documents.

Oded Vanunu, the head of Product Vulnerability Research at American-Israeli software firm Check Point, told Israel Hayom: "The full leak from the Atraf website should be a warning sign on the national level and on the level of the companies storing personal information on the Internet. The personal details of Israeli citizens are repeatedly being leaked following cyberattacks that could easily have been prevented. We should assume the information will be used for very precise phishing attacks by additional hacker groups around the world."

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Two days after the Iran-affiliated BlackShadow hacker group breached the Israeli LGBTQ dating app Atraf *among other platforms) and began leaking information on its users, the perpetrators warned on Sunday that they would dump the entire set of information unless their $1 million ransom request is not met within 48 hours.

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The group shared the personal information of a small number of Atraf users already on Friday, after Cyberserve – the Israeli server company that hosted the dating app  – did not heed their demands

"No one from the Israeli government or Cyberserve contacted us about the issue," BlackShadow said in a Telegram message on Sunday.

It further said: "It is obvious this is not an important problem for them. We know everybody is concerned about the Atraf database. As you know, we are looking for money. So we made a decision: Atraf's database includes the personal information of about 1 million people, the content of their chats, event tickets … anything that was on the site. If we receive $1 million within the next 48 hours, we will neither leak nor sell this information to anybody. Anyone can pay the ransom."

BlackShadow's Telegram message (Screenshot)Yoram Hacohen, CEO of the Israel Internet Association said "under no circumstances" should Blackshadow's demands be met.

"There is no guarantee that the information will not be leaked after the ransom is paid," he said. "Worse yet, such surrender will lead to further attacks, due to what they will perceive as an achievement.

"Moreover, if private users receive ransom demands, they must immediately alert the police and not take any action beyond that. What has to be done now is to increase online safety and privacy regulations, and provide support – physical and mental – to the people whose information has been leaked."

Cyberserve confirmed the reports in a statement and said it was working with the Israel National Cyber Directorate to "put an end to the incident in the best way possible." It further added that it was "working closely with all relevant entities of the State of Israel" and promised to update those involved as soon as it has more information on how the attack was carried out.

The management of Atraf also confirmed the reports. "The company works to restore the service only after it is fully secured, including resetting the users' password," it said in a statement and encouraged users to change their passwords on other sites.

#Israel: 'Black Shadow' demanding $1 million within 48 hours, threatening to reveal the HIV status of users from an #LGBTQ dating site.

'This is a personal attack that affects over a million people from the LGBTQ community,' says Oren Elimelech, CyberTeam 360. pic.twitter.com/BhIS5QAc8e

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) October 31, 2021

Besides the dating app, the hackers of BlackShadow also breached dozens of other sites hosted by Cyberserve, including Kan public broadcaster, the Israel Lottery, Birthright, the Dan and Kavim public transportation companies, the Children's Museum in Holon, tour booking company Pegasus, and the Israeli Children's Museum.

Later on Sunday, BlackShadow's Telegram account, through which it leaked the initial information and demanded the ransom, was blocked. The move was most likely executed by heads of the instant messaging platform following requests by top officials involved in the affair.

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The Iran-affiliated hacker group "BlackShadow" announced on Friday evening that it had hacked the servers of Israeli internet company Cyberserve. The hackers shuttered the company's servers and threatened to leak data pertaining to hundreds of thousands of users.

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Cyberserve is a web hosting company that provides servers and data storage for companies such as Kan public broadcaster, the Israel Lottery, Birthright, the Dan and Kavim public transportation companies, the Children's Museum in Holon, LGBTQ dating app "Atraf," tour booking company Pegasus, the Israeli Children's Museum, and dozens of other sites.

BlackShadow first surfaced last year, with a massive breach of Israeli insurance company Shirbit and later of KLS Capital. Information from both companies' clients was leaked in the days following the breach.

"Hello again! We have news for you," the group said in a Telegram message. "You probably could not connect to many sites today. Cyberserve and their customers were harmed by us. ... You must be asking – what about the data? As always, we have a lot. If you do not want it to be leaked by us, contact us soon."

While last year's cyberattack included a clear demand for ransom that was increased as time whet by, it is unclear whether the hackers plan to follow the same modus operandi this time.

The fact that the hackers have targeted an LGBTQ dating app raised particular concern among its users, as the hackers have already begun leaking the names of its users. The fear is that the hackers have access to sensitive information and could, in fact, "out" people by making their names public.

The Aguda Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel on Saturday called on the National Cyber Directorate to "urgently act to prevent data leaks," adding that the release of such personal information is "a danger to [the users'] mental health," the Times of Israel reported.

On Saturday, BlackShadow hackers leaked information from Kavim. The bus company issued a statement saying the company was aware of the breach and has alerted  the Transport Ministry and the National Cyber Directorate, and has "also hired external professionals in the field to complete a comprehensive, professional and independent investigation into the incident."

The National Cyber Directorate said on Saturday that it had "warned Cyberserve multiple times" over the past year that it was vulnerable to such attacks.

It further advised Israelis whose personal data was comprised to change their passwords, enable two-factor authentication, and remain vigilant for suspicious emails and messages.

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Several cyberattack attempts targeting Israeli hospitals and health centers were identified and thwarted over the weekend, the National Cyber Directorate and Health Ministry said on Sunday.

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"Early warnings and a rapid response from management and field staff made it possible to stop the attempts, no damage was caused," the two said in a joint statement said.

The National Cyber Directorate has carried out various actions in recent days in order to strengthen "the level of [cyber] protection by identifying possible vulnerabilities."

The incidents come as Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera was hit by a major ransomware attack last week, crippling computer systems.

According to the press release, the ministry and the National Directorate are still hard at work to restore the establishment's systems, "gradually, safely, and as quickly as possible."

Some non-urgent procedures had to be canceled at the medical center, but most of the hospital's work is continuing, through alternative computer systems and manually.

The Israel Police's Cyber Crimes Unit is also investigating the cyberattack on Hillel Yaffe and according to sources privy to the issue, the investigation – placed under a gag order – involves foreign law enforcement agencies.

Elik Etzion, VP of cybersecurity firm Cynerio, said that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of cyberattacks of healthcare institutions over the past two years.

Citing data by Bitglass, Etzion said that in 2020, "cyberattacks on the medical centers rose by 55% in the United States alone, compromising the medical privacy of 26 million people."

He added that according to IBM data, the financial implications of cyberattacks on the healthcare sector were higher and more serious than on the financial sector.

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We all know too much social media can be bad for you, but doctors from countries around the world are now saying a combination of anxiety, depression, and TikTok could be behind a recent increase in teen girls complaining of tics. The phenomenon, which has doctors puzzled, appears to have begun at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Reports in several medical journals noted the girls had been watching videos of people who claimed to have Tourette syndrome on the social media platform before experiencing the symptom, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The tics, according to the doctors, are similar to those seen with individuals with mild cases of Tourette syndrome. The nervous system condition causes people to uncontrollably and repeatedly twitch or make specific movements or sounds, such as shouting, whistling, or cursing. Boys are more likely to be impacted, and symptoms tend to show when they are young and increase over time.

According to The Wall Street Journal, some medical centers have reported seeing as many as 10 times the average number of cases they would normally see before the pandemic. While they would normally see one or two cases every month, they are now seeing 10 to 20.

The doctors further noted that many patients had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety, which was exacerbated during the pandemic. They said the girls did not in fact have Tourette syndrome but a functional movement disorder.

Miriam Hall, a child neurologist at Texas Children's Hospital told The Wall Street Journal one video was unlikely to cause tics but noted the social media platform's algorithm ensured children would repeatedly watch similar videos on TikTok.

In September, the newspaper reported on an internal Facebook report that found 32% of teen girls "said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse. Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves."

The report further said that in 2019, a Facebook internal presentation warned that Instagram "makes body image issues worse for one in three teen girls."

Even worse, another presentation found that a small percentage of British and American teen Instagram users said they started thinking suicidal thoughts due to the service.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was aware of the findings, The Wall Street Journal said.

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The ransomware cyberattack on Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera on Wednesday, which damaged the hospital's computer systems and forced management to switch to an alternate system to maintain proper care of patients, exposed the public to a new world of threats.

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The new attacks are not enough to acquire or corrupt information, but they could impair life-saving systems such as ventilators, oxygen generators and saturators, and other machines, as any breach of such systems is potentially life-threatening.

In a similar attack that occurred last year, an elderly German woman, who had been rushed to a hospital in Dusseldorf for emergency care, died because the medical staff couldn't receive her after the hospital's computer systems had collapsed due to a cyberattack.

In the US, a hospital was sued by a young woman who claimed her baby, who was born with severe difficulties, didn't receive proper care because at that time the hospital's computer systems were partially down due to a ransomware attack. Consequently, the baby's condition deteriorated and he died several days later.

Ransomware attacks, contrary to "regular" cyberattacks, are characterized by the attacking side seeking monetary gain from their action. On a principle level, the attacker or group behind such attacks is not motivated by any discernible ideology, policy, or political position they seek to impose, change or end.

However, we've already seen that attacks on Israeli organizations can be motivated by several parallel goals. Case in point, the attack on Bar-Ilan University's student database, for which the attackers sought a ransom – was perpetrated by an Iranian cyber group, at least according to expert assessments.

Israel has also been suspected of carrying out cyberattacks, according to foreign reports, against targets in Iran. In July, Iran's railway grid was hit by a cyberattack in which the hackers posted fake delay notices on station boards, and in some instances also urged passengers to call an information hotline, listing the phone number of the office of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A short while after that attack, another attack was launched that took down the website of Iran's Transportation Ministry.

Israeli and global cyber experts are in agreement that the current trend of digital attacks is certain to continue, whether in the form of ransomware attacks or cyber warfare between global powers. With time, these attackers will become increasingly brazen. When adding to this equation ever-improving capabilities and expertise in the hands of hostile elements, what you get is a future where the attacks are far more dangerous.

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