Saudi-Israeli hacking scandal continues

TEL AVIV, Israel — It looks like for once, Israeli and Saudi youth may be having some fun. Hacking each other’s parents.

The ongoing tit-for-tat spat kicked off late last week, when a Saudi hacker posted private information connected to the credit card use of several thousand Israelis who had made purchases on local coupon sites.

The revelations threw Israelis into a tizzy; among those hacked was Labor party leader Shelley Yachimovitch.

More from GlobalPost: Saudi hackers say they published Israeli credit card details

On Friday, an Israeli student, Amir Phadida, claimed to have uncovered the identity of “OxOmar,” the Saudi hacker, who he revealed to be one Omar Habib, born in the United Arab Emirates but currently residing in the Mexican city of Pachuca.

Now, one or several Israeli hackers has exacted revenge by posting personal information and credit card details belonging to Saudi citizens.

The Israeli hacker, calling himself “OxOmer” or “Omer Cohen” posted the details of several hundred mostly Saudi citizens to www.pastebin.com, according to the Jerusalem Post, “to warn anti-Israel hackers.”

The Jerusalem Post said this hacker was “only 17 years old” but the Israeli news site www.ynet.com said the hacker identified himself as “a soldier in the Israeli army’s Intelligence Corps,” thus hinting at more than one “OxOmers” trying to take credit for the ongoing mischief.

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