Abu Dhabi bourse denies hacking bid

The capital's stock market denied rumours that its website had been attacked by hackers. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, available online at the IP address, www.adx.ae, experienced loading problems on Tuesday afternoon, which the bourse said was due to technical glitches. The Dubai Financial Market, however, did not experience similar issues. "[The] ADX website experienced some technical difficulties yesterday [January 17], resulting in the site running slow; we have subsequently resolved these technical issues and the website was back to its original state," ADX said in a statement. Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All Share Index, the Arab world's most liquid market, also denied that its website had been the victim of hacking. Article continues below "The Saudi Stock Exchange confirms that all systems and operations have and continue to perform normally. Media reports about any hacking of [the] Tadawul website and/or any associated degradation of website performance are incorrect," the Saudi bourse said in a statement. "The exchange website remains accessible and fully operational to users. [The] Tadawul deploys advanced systems and processes to protect the integrity and continuity of its infrastructure," the statement added. Tel Aviv exchange hit Before the ADX's announcement yesterday, several media outlets had reported that an Israeli group, calling itself the IDF Team, had targeted the websites of stock markets in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi in retaliation for a similar hacking assault on Monday, which targeted the websites of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and El Al, the Israeli national airline. "If the lame attacks from Saudi Arabia will continue, we will move to the next level which will disable these sites longer term [and] may come to weeks or even months. You have been warned," the IDF team said in an internet posting on Tuesday. IDF Team refers to the acronym for the Israel Defence Forces.