Israeli cybersecurity startups are booming during the war with the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The current conflict has become a real-world testing ground for Israel's cyber defense capabilities, especially amid a significant increase in hacking attempts led by Iran and its terrorist proxy Hezbollah.
The Gaza war has had a negative impact on the entire Israeli technology industry, with Israel's cyber sector recording losses of $985 million. mergers and acquisitions Additionally, Israeli cyber technology startups raised $620 million from investors during the same period.
In 2023, Israel's cyber technology sector generated a record deal of $7.1 billion.
Amir Rappaport, founder of Cybertech, said that the strong flow of capital into Israel's cybertech industry will continue in 2024, driven by the rise in global cyber threats.
“As global cyber threats increase year by year, the trend of increasing Israeli cyber mergers and acquisitions that began last year will continue until 2024,” Rapaport said. Said. “In contrast to other sectors, geopolitical tensions are driving increased interest and investment in cyber companies.”
“Therefore, we can expect to see more investment in Israeli cyber companies and startups that address emerging threats,” Rappaport said.
Hamas is a Sunni jihadist organization that has become a terrorist proxy for Iran's Shiite Ayatollah regime. The Iranian government supports Hamas with significant funding, military equipment, and training. Additionally, Iran has deployed cyber resources to support Hamas in its war against Israel.
In February, the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) released a report assessing the surge in Iranian-led cyberattacks against Israel and Israeli-related targets.
“When the Israeli-Hamas war erupts on October 7, 2023, Iran uses a now-refined method of combining targeted hacks and social media-scaled influence operations to support Hamas. “What we call cyber influence operations,” the MTAC report said. said.
“By late October, Iranian influence and nearly all of the major cyber actors were focused on Israel in increasingly targeted, coordinated, and destructive ways, launching unrestrained “total force'' against Israel. We created a campaign to raise the bar. “Unlike some of Iran's past cyberattacks, all of the devastating cyberattacks against Israel in this war were complemented by online influence operations, whether real or fabricated,” the report added.
MTAC noted that Iran has focused its hacking efforts on sowing discord among the Israeli public regarding the Gaza war.
“Iran's targeting of Israel during the Israel-Hamas war is increasingly focused on stirring up internal conflict over the Israeli government's approach to the war.”
Iran and its allies have also targeted important Israeli institutions, including hospitals. In December, the Israeli Cyber Directorate announced that Iran and its ally Hezbollah launched A cyber attack on Ziv Medical Center in the northern city of Safad.
Despite the surge in Iranian-led cyberattacks, the impact in Israel has so far been relatively minor, mainly resulting in temporary website outages.
Israel has emerged as one of the world leaders in cybersecurity and has responded to threats with sophisticated cyberattacks targeting key assets of the Iranian regime.
