Iran and Israel: Already at War in Cyberspace?

An Iranian cyber-attack on April 24-25 targeted water and sewage facilities across Israel. (Flash90)

An Iranian cyber-attack on Israeli water infrastructure provoked a response from Jerusalem in May. Pro-Iranian groups then hacked Israeli websites on May 20 in a second round of attacks that appears to show the cyber battlefield in the Middle East is heating up. The Iranian attack was sophisticated while Israel’s response, according to U.S. officials, disrupted computer systems that run Iran’s Shahid Rajaee Port, a key economic facility for Tehran. The cyber battles come amid rising tensions, a recent trip by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Israel, and a recent joint exercise by U.S. and Israeli F-35s in March.

The initial attack began on April 24 when Israel’s Water Authority came under attack. Six facilities were affected ad in one there was irregularity related to unplanned change in data. A pump at one station went into “continuous operation.” Israel says that there was no effect on the water supply and Israel disconnected its systems, changed passwords and was able to recover from the assault. But the nature of the attack reveals things could be much worse.

A May 9 Israeli cyber-attack reportedly brought Iran’s “bustling Shahid Rajaee port terminal to an abrupt and inexplicable halt.”

There has been growing concern about Iran’s cyber warfare abilities. The United States analyzed potential cyber blowback from the killing of IRGC Quds Force Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani in January. The United States has been keen to increase cyber defenses against Russia and China over the last decades. Iran is also a key threat and it has used cyber attacks against Saudi Arabia, harming some thirty thousand computers in 2012. Washington increased cybersecurity to deal with these threats and the U.S. military has not only broadened defenses but also carried out a cyberattack on Iran in the wake of the downing of a U.S. drone in June 2019.

Israel and the United States have cooperated against Iran using cyberwarfare. According to reports, the Stuxnet attack on Iran’s nuclear program was a result of close U.S.-Israeli cooperation. The computer worm sabotaged centrifuges. Iran appears to want to show it can now do the same to Israeli infrastructure. Israel has known the risks for a decade and invested heavily in cyber defense and the creation of a cyber unit in the Israeli Defense Forces in 2011.

The result is that for most of the last decade no serious Iranian cyber attacks have been reported. That changed in April 2020 and it came amid rising tensions, the coronavirus crisis, and Iran’s increasing isolation due to sanctions.

... The cyber battle comes precisely at the time that Iran appeared to be moving forces back. It also comes amid reports that Russia was displeased with the Assad regime and while the regime had internal troubles with a key businessman and Assad family insider, named Rami Makhlouf. Tehran may be relying on the cyber front because its other arsenal is in flux. It is continuing to build long-range ballistic missiles and recently launched a military satellite into orbit. It also continues to develop new drones. But Iran’s conventional forces are in bad shape. A naval disaster took place in early May when Iran shot one of its own ships. Iran also shot down a civilian airliner in January amid U.S.-Iran tensions. Hacking Israeli websites to threaten an Iranian conquest of Jerusalem under the guise of what Iran’s supreme leader calls a “final solution” to destroy Israel is easier than a face-to-face confrontation in Syria or with proxies in Lebanon.

Seth Frantzman, a Middle East Forum writing fellow, is the author of After ISIS: America, Iran and the Struggle for the Middle East (2019), op-ed editor of The Jerusalem Post, and founder of the Middle East Center for Reporting & Analysis.

A journalist and analyst concentrating on the Middle East, Seth J. Frantzman has a PhD from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was an assistant professor at Al-Quds University. He is the Oped Editor and an analyst on Middle East Affairs at The Jerusalem Post and his work has appeared at The National Interest, The Spectator, The Hill, National Review, The Moscow Times, and Rudaw. He is a frequent guest on radio and TV programs in the region and internationally, speaking on current developments in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. As a correspondent and researcher has covered the war on ISIS in Iraq and security in Turkey, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, the UAE and eastern Europe.
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I recently witnessed something I haven’t seen in a long time. On Friday, August 16, 2024, a group of pro-Hamas activists packed up their signs and went home in the face of spirited and non-violent opposition from a coalition of pro-American Iranians and American Jews. The last time I saw anything like that happen was in 2006 or 2007, when I led a crowd of Israel supporters in chants in order to silence a heckler standing on the sidewalk near the town common in Amherst, Massachusetts. The ridicule was enough to prompt him and his fellow anti-Israel activists to walk away, as we cheered their departure. It was glorious.