Since the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, attacks by Iranian state hackers have been taking place aimed at undermining public support in Israel for the war. To this end, they are carrying out destructive attacks on key Israeli organizations.
This is according to research data from Mandiant and Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG). The study looked at the activities of Iranian state hackers before Oct. 7 and the period during the war. “Notably, after the terrorist attacks by Hamas, we observed the steady stream of cyber operations by Iran and Hezbollah-linked groups become more focused, more concentrated, and — among other objectives — geared toward undercutting public support for the war,” the researchers said.
Mandiant and TAG see Iran primarily attacking Israel and the US. That includes destructive cyber attacks aimed at crucial Israeli organizations. Think disrupting intelligence gathering activities.
Before and after terrorist attack
In the six months before Oct. 7, Iran accounted for some 80 per cent of all government-sponsored phishing activity on Israeli users. During the war, state-sponsored hackers primarily seek to disrupt support by the Israeli people and the broader world population. To do this, they use hack-and-leak and information tactics to demoralize civilians. They also want to damage public confidence in national organizations in this way. The state hackers put Israel’s war actions in a negative light.
In the image below, TAG also shows how the frequency of phishing attacks on Israel changed over a year. Also included in the images are key activities during that time.
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