ransom

Research group Unit 42 said in a note the group had "asserted responsibility for laying siege to customer Salesforce tenants as part of a coordinated effort to steal data and hold it for ransom".

Many organisations in the country are not prepared for attacks and are willing to pay ransoms, which makes them attractive to hackers, he added.

Even after the hostages are ransomed, Israeli soldiers will remain in more than half of Gaza, including by the Egyptian border to stop weapons smuggling.

It was, they suggested, an attempt to extort a ransom from the company by infecting its networks with malicious software.

The criminals also contacted parents directly with threatening phone calls whilst trying to get their ransom paid.