Israel’s National Cyber Directorate says Iran poses a significant cyber threat worldwide, escalating attacks at three times the rate since Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
The attack by the Iran-backed group saw around 1,200 mostly civilians murdered and over 250 taken hostage.
Gaby Portnoy said on Tuesday that the cyber attacks by Iran targeted a wide array of nations, including the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Austria.
Speaking at the annual Cyber Week conference at Tel Aviv University, Portnoy revealed that Iran also targets its allies.
“We have identified that Iran is attacking its allies and other countries for information extortion and damaging digital services. The information stolen from government systems is then used for Iranian cyber-terrorism,” he stated, Iran violating international law and endangering civilians in the process.
Portnoy named several Iranian-linked hacking groups, such as Homeland Justice, based in Albania, and Imperial Kitten, operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.