Algerian hackers attack the UK Belvoir Castle by mistake: Their target was Israel’s Belvoir fortress

A group of Algerian hackers who attempted to attack the website of an Israeli tourist attraction called the Belvoir Fortress found themselves interfering with that of the British Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, more used to hosting tourists.

• They hijacked the Belvoir Castle website and posted on its home page an image of the Algerian flag with Arabic words condemning Israel.
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• After the hack was identified, a member of Dz-SeC wrote on the castle website: “The cause of this hack is Israel’s presence. Internet law does not protect the ignorant. Thank you to Algerian hackers”.
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• The target was Belvoir Fortress near the Israeli city of Tiberias. The fortress, constructed by crusaders in the 11th century, was the site of historic battles between Christians, Muslims and Jews.
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• It has little but a name in common with Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, which was built on the site of a Norman castle and used by the Royalists during the English Civil War.
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• However the cyber attackers, a group by the name of Dz-SeC, evidently did not realize this.
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• A spokeswoman for the castle said: “We’ve nothing to do with the Middle-East. I just help to organize the teddy bears’ picnic.”
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• The frequency of such cyber attacks has risen in recent years, with hackers from a number of Middle-Eastern countries hijacking a range of websites in an attempt spread political messages.
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• The Bank of Israel has been also targeted, with hackers posting tirades against the Jewish state and its backers in the US.
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• The Israeli Crusader fortress of Belvoir is located on a hill of the Naphtali plateau around 12 miles south of the Sea of Galilee. It overlooks the winding Jordan River below and faces the hills of Gilead in Jordan. Its defences were dismantled in the 13th Century by Muslims who feared the return of the Crusaders. The fortress fell into ruins until excavations were conducted in the 1960s, unearthing the fortifications well preserved under masses of rubble. It has since been open to the public, and is considered the most complete and impressive Crusader fortress in Israel.
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• Alternatively, Belvoir Castle was built on an isolated spur of the Lincolnshire Wolds by Norman conquerors in the 11th Century and passed into the hands of the Manners family – the Dukes of Rutland – in 1523. It became a Royalist stronghold at the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, but was torched by Oliver Cromwell’s troops in 1649. The castle was later restored to its original plans, but was remodelled as a mock medieval castle in the 19th century by the fifth Duke of Rutland, whose wife did not take to the original Norman architecture. Today, it is home to the 11th Duke of Rutland, David Manners. His son, Charles, is now the Marquis of Granby.
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• “Hackers or not, I wish any Algerian learns how to make some minimum research before claiming to defend any cause whatsoever. At least, it will make one look a bit educated about the subject”, the “Algerian Americans’ Website commented. We can guess that this is one of the Algerian immigrants living in the US and this is a good opportunity to criticize his brothers in Algeria.
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• The Inquirer website titled the incident “Belvoir Castle is the victim of a misguided terror attack” and ended the article with this comment “Grantham’s Belvoir Castle website appears to have returned to normality now, but anyone named Belvoir should probably stay up tonight and keep refreshing their website. You have been warned”.
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• “Islamic hackers invade website of Belvoir Castle in protest over Israeli foreign policy » the Day Press News titled the incident in its website. As we can see this is the kind of media that can confuse people throughout publishing anything that could falsify the reality and turn it in their favour, in accordance with their political aims and directions.
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• It is just a mistake, what!! Anyone can do it, especially if he is fasting.