Iran’s cyber command ordered top officials and their security teams to avoid IT equipment connected to telecom networks in a sign they fear digital disruption from Israel.
The news was reported by the Fars news agency on Tuesday, which is affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israel and Iran have clashed militarily since Israel launched Operation Rising Lion last Friday, targeting Tehran’s nuclear capabilities. Explosions were reported Tuesday in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as Iranian state media claimed a new wave of missiles had been launched toward Israel.
Lukasz Olejnik, a visiting senior research fellow of the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, said the Iranian decision to avoid connected kit signals “deep concern” that ordinary devices can be hacked and tampered with. “It suggests Tehran fears adversaries can use connected devices to track, intercept, or even target key officials,” he said.
Israel has used connected devices to kill individuals in the past. Last September, it used explosive pagers to hit Hezbollah targets, injuring nearly 3,000 people — a sophisticated and carefully orchestrated attack in which Israeli security services hit the Lebanon-based terrorist group by simultaneously triggering minute quantities of explosive hidden in thousands of modified hand-held devices distributed among Hezbollah operatives.
“Israel is definitely a cyber superpower,” said Matt Pearl, former director for emerging technologies at the National Security Council during the Biden administration. “I would put it, in many ways, in the category of the U.S. or [China], although smaller, just in terms of its overall capabilities.”
Both Iran and Israel are powerful cybersecurity actors. Experts said that cyber disruption and espionage operations are often conducted in the background of direct military clashes.
Tel Aviv has a skilled cyber talent pool and close-knit relations between the government and the private sector. It is also considered to have stronger cyber capabilities and advanced technology, enabiling more sophisticated digital attacks.
While Iran is considered a major rival power to Western countries — alongside China, North Korea and Russia — its cyber operations are primarily focused on espionage rather than disruption.
Iran’s nuclear program has also been the target of one of the most infamous cyberoffensive operations in history: The U.S. and Israel were reportedly behind the Stuxnet malware attack that significantly damaged the country’s nuclear efforts in 2010.
Sam Clark contributed reporting.
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