Israel Calls for International Cooperation to Counter Cyber Attacks from the Islamic Republic

The head of Israel's National Cyber Directorate, Gabi Portnoy, has warned about the increasing aggressiveness of cyber attacks from the Islamic Republic following the Hamas attack on October 7, and has called for finding an international solution to counter it. According to the Times of Israel, this Israeli official announced on Tuesday, July 5, at an annual meeting in Tel Aviv that the Iranian government is using 'information extortion and the destruction of digital services' during cyber attacks against countries, including its allies, leveraging stolen government information for 'cyber terrorism.' Gabi Portnoy emphasized that 'Iran's cyber aggression is currently not limited to Israel and has become an international problem, thus requiring an international solution.' The head of the National Cyber Directorate of Israel named Saudi Arabia, Oman, Canada, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Austria as targets of the Islamic Republic's cyber attacks. Gabi Portnoy stated that following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, cyber attacks against Israel have increased threefold, and the scope of the Islamic Republic's cyber attacks against this country has also expanded. The National Cyber Directorate of Israel identified the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah as responsible for a cyber attack on a medical center in the country on April 20. Gabi Portnoy referred to the hacker group 'Justice Homeland' as one of the 'new actors' in this field, which is 'likely operating under the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence' and has also played a role in cyber attacks against Albania. Gabi Portnoy also described the cyber attacks by the 'Royal Kitten' group, linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as an example of 'a complete violation of international privacy laws and harming innocent civilians' by the Islamic Republic. The head of the National Cyber Directorate of Israel further called on the international community to cooperate in defense and to establish a preventive mechanism against Iran. In recent years, defense organizations and military contractors around the world have been targeted by hackers affiliated with the governments of Iran, Russia, North Korea, and China. The White House: More sanctions against the Islamic Republic will be imposed under the supplemental national security budget law. When 'the shadow war' ends; a review of the decades-long hostility between the Islamic Republic and Israel. Reuters report on Israel's options for a potential response to the Islamic Republic: airstrikes, cyber operations, covert operations, and diplomacy. Israeli media: Computers of the Israeli Ministry of Justice were hacked.