Google believes that while
offensive cyber warfare
has become nearly universal, the tactics, timing and objectives of
threat actors
can differ greatly. A case in point was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Two senior executives have highlighted how cyber warfare intensified during the Israel-Hamas 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,” noted Sandra Joyce, VP, Mandiant Intelligence - Google Cloud, and Shane Huntley Senior Director, Threat Analysis Group.
As per Google, Iran has been a key player in this cyber warfare. The two executives, in a blog post, revealed that Iran continues to aggressively target Israeli and US entities, often with mixed results. “This steady focus suggests that Hamas’ attack did not fundamentally shift Tehran’s strategy, but after the attack took place, we saw a more focused effort, concentrated on undercutting public support for the war,” the executives added.
Some of the methods deployed included hack-and-leak operations including exaggerated claims of attacks against critical infrastructure in Israel and the US. Furthermore,
phishing campaigns
were directed toward users based in Israel and the US to collect intelligence on key decision makers, noted the two executives.
Iran has also accused Israel of nefarious cyber activities. Gonjeshke Darande" (Predatory Sparrow) claimed it had taken a majority of gas stations in Iran offline, attacking their infrastructure and payment systems. “Iran has attributed Gonjeshke Darande activity to Israel, however we do not have sufficient evidence to evaluate these claims,” the executives said.
Notably, the executives said their observations suggest Hamas did not use cyber operations to tactically support the terrorist attack on October 7. Cyber activity surrounding the Israel-Hamas war, however, is very different from the war in Ukraine. “Unlike the attack on Ukraine, we did not observe a spike in cyber operations against Israeli targets before the attack, and have no indication that cyber activity was integrated into Hamas battlefield operations, or used to enable kinetic events,” the executives added.
English (US) ·