In 2023, Israel saw the number of cyberattacks triple, making it the most targeted country. Cyberwars are now the new face of global conflicts.
Growing tensions in the Middle East have apparently spilled over into cyberattacks. Israel’s cybersecurity chief blames Iran and Hezbollah for relentless attacks, which intensified after Jerusalem’s Pro-Palestinian Day, which saw Iran embroiled in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Despite a decline in cyberattacks since the start of 2024, Pascal Geenens, director of the Threat Intelligence department at Radware, headquartered in Tel Aviv, predicts an increase due to tensions between Israel, Iran and Lebanon. For its part, in a recent report, Google predicts that Iran will likely continue destructive cyberattacks in the event of an escalation of the conflict.
Tensions which are reminiscent of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in Europe, two countries which are also bogged down in a merciless cyberwar.
Cyberattacks, a new norm in geopolitical conflicts
When Russia invaded Ukraine, it used cyberattacks as a strategic weapon to target Ukraine before and during the invasion. These attacks were not limited to Ukraine, but also targeted the United States and Ukraine’s European allies in the two years since the start of the war.
In the Middle East, cyber conflict takes a different form. Conflict participants have different strengths and limitations, which makes them more asymmetrical. Iran and Hamas are more opportunistic adversaries. Israel’s military operations have limited Hamas’ capacity to respond, and the country has the most sophisticated cyber offensive capabilities in the region.
A significant increase in cyberattacks was observed before and after October 7, while much more modest levels of activity have targeted Israel this year.
Nation states and hacktivists, the actors of cyberconflict
Because conventional weapons are not currently an acceptable option for Iran, the country uses cyberspace to carry out certain destructive operations.
Nation states are therefore no longer the only actors involved in the conflict. Over the past year, hacktivism has grown significantly. A large part of the increase in cyberattacks in Israel is also due to hacktivism, as demonstrated by the sharp increase in denial of service attacks. It’s not like it didn’t exist before, but let’s just say it was less organized. From now on, hackers can gather, for example, on Telegram. It is then easier to communicate via specific hashtags, to find each other and create alliances to carry out attacks.
Pascal Geenens predicts that “ no matter what happens in the future, whether it’s a military operation, the outcome of an election they disapprove of, or someone saying something they don’t like, they will be there and there will be a wave DDoS attacks “. A disillusioned look at what could well become everyday life in terms of international conflicts.
Source : DarkReading, Google
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