Bank of Israel, Jerusalem. Photo: Ester Inbar.

JNS.org – A hacker has threatened three Israeli banks—Discount, Yahav and the First International Bank of Israel—that if they do not hand over a certain sum in Bitcoins by the end of next week, details of their customers will be sold to criminal organizations, Israel Hayom reported.

The hacker, who apparently sent his threat to the banks’ Hebrew websites, claimed to have set up a botnet network in Israel that enabled the hacking of customers’ computers, exposing details such as passwords and credit card numbers. The hacker claimed to have obtained information on 3.7 million bank customers.

An Israeli banking official said that, as of now, the banks do not view the threat as serious. It is unclear why the hacker asked for Bitcoins, a digital currency whose value has dropped by around 60 percent in recent weeks.