Identification of Over 200 Cyber Attacks by the Islamic Republic Against Israeli Officials and Figures

The Israeli internal security service (Shin Bet) announced that it has identified over 200 phishing cyber attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran aimed at obtaining personal information from senior Israeli officials. According to Shin Bet, senior security, political officials, and academic and media figures in Israel were among the victims of these cyber attacks. Phishing is a type of cyber attack often used to steal user information. According to the 'Times of Israel', hackers attempted to persuade Israelis to install software to gain access to their personal information, and in some cases, used this information for future attacks against these individuals. Shin Bet stated that the hackers had fabricated separate narratives for each of the victims to avoid raising suspicion. For instance, in one case, a hacker impersonated a cabinet minister from Israel and told the victim that he was coordinating a meeting between them and the Prime Minister of Israel. Shin Bet has identified the victims of this cyber campaign and informed them accordingly. The Israeli internal security service did not provide details regarding the timing of these hacking attacks. In recent months, the Islamic Republic of Iran has attempted to establish contact with Israeli targets and officials through a series of deception operations and the dissemination of false information. Israeli media reported on December 4 that Iranian government agents had sent fake invitations to two ministers in the country to collect information or establish contact with senior Israeli officials. In a report published in September of this year, Reuters highlighted hacker groups known as 'APT 42' or 'Charming Kitten', linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), emphasizing that the activities of these hackers against valuable targets in Washington and Israel are significant. Last March, the cybersecurity and information technology company 'Mandiant', a subsidiary of Google, reported the identification of a new threat related to Iranian espionage activities targeting aerospace, aviation, and defense industries in several countries, including Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, India, and Albania. The hacking of the Telegram channel of two Israeli journalists and the dissemination of images of Hitler and Khamenei, warnings from Canada about cyber threats from the Islamic Republic, China, and Russia, and Reuters reporting that hackers linked to the Islamic Republic published stolen emails from Trump's election campaign, as well as warnings from Western security agencies about the access of cyber agents from the Islamic Republic to infrastructure networks.