Hundreds of employees at Haifa Port, located in northern Israel, received threatening messages on their mobile phones on Monday, warning that the port would be a target for a missile attack.
The messages stated: “We have infiltrated Haifa Port, and we know you are its employees. You have a short time to leave the port. It will be one of our rocket targets.”
In response, Haifa Port, Israel’s largest and most important port, issued a statement saying: “In recent hours, several port employees received text messages as part of a psychological warfare campaign.”
The statement continued, “No harm has been done to current port operations, and the port is functioning as usual under the guidance of the Home Front Command, security forces, and the national cybersecurity team. It should be emphasized that no breach of the port’s information security systems has occurred.”
According to Israeli public broadcaster Kan, the messages were written in Hebrew but contained grammatical errors. The broadcaster also noted that some non-port employees received the same messages.
Israeli media sources suspect that a pro-Iranian hacking group is behind the messages. The phone numbers that received the messages are believed to have been part of a leaked database from some time ago.
Despite several months of conflict, Haifa’s strategic port has been a target for missile and drone attacks but has remained undamaged.
