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Home Publications Cyber, Intelligence, and Security Iranian Cyber Capabilities: Assessing the Threat to Israeli Financial and Security Interests

Iranian Cyber Capabilities: Assessing the Threat to Israeli Financial and Security Interests

Cyber, Intelligence, and Security, Volume 3, No. 1, May 2019

עברית
Sam Cohen

The Iranian government continues to develop and field an increasingly sophisticated range of cyber capabilities to support their strategic interests and to enable a variety of computer-based financial crime. These capabilities have directly and adversely impacted Israel, which has been the target of major cyberattacks either affiliated or directly orchestrated by the political leadership in Tehran. To assess this strategic threat, this article outlines the evolving objectives and characteristics of Iran’s cyber activity targeting Israel, including attacks on banks, airlines, the Israel Defense Forces, and critical infrastructure. The article includes a brief overview of Iran’s internet and telecommunications history and a technical assessment of government-linked advanced persistent threat (APT) groups. Ultimately, the article concludes that a deterrence-by-punishment strategy utilizing Israel’s computer network attack and exploitation advantage could provide an impactful—albeit not risk free—approach to offsetting Iran’s rapidly improving cyber posture.


The opinions expressed in INSS publications are the authors’ alone.
Publication Series Cyber, Intelligence, and Security
TopicsIran
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  • Research

    • Topics
      • Israel and the Global Powers
      • Israel-United States Relations
      • Glazer Israel-China Policy Center
      • Russia
      • Europe
      • Iran and the Shi'ite Axis
      • Iran
      • Lebanon and Hezbollah
      • Syria
      • Yemen and the Houthi Movement
      • Iraq and the Iraqi Shiite Militias
      • Conflict to Agreements
      • Israeli-Palestinian Relations
      • Hamas and the Gaza Strip
      • Peace Agreements and Normalization in the Middle East
      • Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States
      • Turkey
      • Egypt
      • Jordan
      • Israel’s National Security Policy
      • Military and Strategic Affairs
      • Societal Resilience and the Israeli Society
      • Jewish-Arab Relations in Israel
      • Climate, Infrastructure and Energy
      • Terrorism and Low Intensity Conflict
      • Cross-Arena Research
      • Data Analytics Center
      • Law and National Security
      • Advanced Technologies and National Security
      • Cognitive Warfare
      • Economics and National Secutiry
    • Projects
      • Preventing the Slide into a One-State Reality
      • Contemporary Antisemitism in the United States
      • Perceptions about Jews and Israel in the Arab-Muslim World and Their Impact on the West
  • Publications

    • All Publications
    • INSS Insight
    • Policy Papers
    • Special Publication
    • Strategic Assessment
    • Technology Platform
    • Memoranda
    • Database
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