Israel suffered widespread power failures on Thursday, including in Tel Aviv. Reuters
Israel suffered widespread power failures on Thursday, including in Tel Aviv. Reuters
Israel suffered widespread power failures on Thursday, including in Tel Aviv. Reuters
Israel suffered widespread power failures on Thursday, including in Tel Aviv. Reuters

Major power failure in Israel after suspected cyber attack


Thomas Helm
  • English
  • Arabic

Cities across Israel were hit by a huge power failure on Thursday afternoon in a suspected cyber attack.

The Anonymous Sudan hacker group said it was responsible for the incident, boasting on its Telegram channel that "the electric attack was just for fun. We'll show you more".

In a later post, the group threatened more attacks: "Israel, we are still playing with you ... soon you will be without the internet. We are working to down the internet in Israel like electricity."

Israel's Electric Company told The National that a fault in a production unit caused the failure.

In a statement, the company said: "Due to a glitch in one of the Haifa power plants, power outages are being felt in a number of areas around the country ... regular power supply was renewed to a number of areas and will be fully renewed in the next few minutes."

The outage caused major traffic jams in Tel Aviv, as right-wing protesters prepared to attend a rally to show support for the country's government.

During recent months Anonymous Sudan has been behind several cyber attacks in Israel, including during Wednesday's celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Israel, in which two news sites and Israel's Defence Ministry and Shin Bet security service were claimed to be attacked.

The Facebook account of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also targeted. The page was briefly full of Arabic-language Quranic verses.

Earlier in April, a series of hacks hit important websites, including those of Ben-Gurion Airport and a number of universities.

Israeli authorities later blamed some of them on Iran, including one on Haifa's prestigious Technion Institute, in which hackers demanded millions of shekels as a ransom.

Timeline

2012-2015

The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East

May 2017

The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts

September 2021

Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act

October 2021

Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence 

December 2024

Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group

May 2025

The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan

July 2025

The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan

August 2025

Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision

October 2025

Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange

November 2025

180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE

Updated: April 27, 2023, 2:56 PM