In the aftermath of the Hamas-led massacre, Israel’s cyber defense chief Gaby Portnoy highlighted the escalating conflict in cyberspace. According to Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, cyber attacks against the country surged in the first three months after the massacre, reaching 2.5 times higher than previous years, with a total of 3,380 incidents recorded.
One of the most significant attacks during this period was a hacking attack targeting government organizations and military infrastructure that had significant potential for harm. Portnoy emphasized that the intensity of these attacks, with Iranian and Hezbollah groups working together, was unprecedented.
Prior to the attack by Tehran, hackers associated with Iran claimed to have infiltrated Israeli radar systems, although Tel Aviv’s cyber defense agency refuted these claims and stated that no abnormal activity was detected at that time. Despite Israel’s advanced capabilities in cybersecurity, some recent attacks resulted in data breaches such as those targeting hospitals in Haifa and Safed. One incident was linked to Hezbollah support group Lebanese Cedar resulting in patient data theft.
In response to the growing Iranian threat in cyberspace, Israel has invested heavily in enhancing its strategies against Iranian hacking activities and anticipating potential technological disruptions through a cyber summit. According to Mohammed Soliman of the Middle East Institute in Washington DC, the cyber conflict between Israel and Iran is one of the oldest rivalries globally in this domain. While Israel has technological advantages due to U.S support, Iran is considered a rising cyber power backed by Russia and China.
Chuck Freilich of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University noted that Iran’s cyber activities target infrastructure sabotage, intelligence gathering, and propaganda dissemination with support from Russia and China as well as focus on cyber education and training; learning from Israel’s expertise over years
