"Yesterday, Turkish hackers took down the Times of Israel web site for approximately six hours, replacing its pages with anti-Israel propaganda."
The obvious joke is how could anyone tell the difference.
But that's how Yair Rosenberg's piece at the Tablet on the Times of Israel hack begins. But the piece, largely laudatory toward the left-wing anti-Israel site, addresses the security risk and the resulting problems that its partner papers suffered in only the most cursory of ways.
The key words there that should alert Jewish readers are “the Jewish world.” That’s because the Times of Israel now plays host to an array of crucial Jewish publications from around the globe. This has given these publications the advantage of a fast-loading, high quality user interface for their articles. But it has the disadvantage of tying the fate of these publications to a high value target for international hackers. Thus, when the Times of Israel went down, so did New York’s Jewish Week, New Jersey’s Jewish Standard, Britain’s Jewish News, the Atlanta Jewish Times, and the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.
Going forward, as more and more local Jewish media outlets transition to online only publishing, we can expect more papers to partner with the Times of Israel. Which means that the informational security of the Times of Israel is not simply an Israeli issue—it’s a Jewish one.
Does the phrase "Too big to fail" ring a bell.
There's no reason for the Times of Israel's flawed website to be a "Jewish" issue. Especially since the site's content often makes little secret of its loathing for Jews. And this hack should serve as a wake up call for its partner publications. Having a pretty page doesn't count for much, if anyone can take it down.