Microsoft Issues Report On Iranian Cyberattacks Against Israel
October 16, 2024
4:17 PM
Reading time: 2 minutes
Hi-tech megacorporation Microsoft published its annual Digital Defense report on Tuesday which included details of Iranian cyber attacks, including an assesment that Israel has been the number one target of such attacks since the Hamas massacres of October 7th, 2023. “Following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, Iran surged its cyber, influence, and cyber-enabled influence operations against Israel,” Microsoft said in the annual report. “From October 7, 2023, to July 2024, nearly half of the Iranian operations Microsoft observed targeted Israeli companies."
Before that, according to the report, only about 10% of Iran's cyber-attacks were directed against Israel, with 35% directed at the US and 20% directed at the UAE.
“Within two days of Hamas’s attack on Israel, Iran stood up several new influence operations,” Microsoft said, adding that this included the “Tears of War” campaign to post fake content on social media platforms appearing to be criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by Israeli activists.
“Iranian groups also expanded their cyber-enabled influence operations beyond Israel, with a focus on undermining international political, military, and economic support for Israel’s military operations,” the report added.