Top Israeli cyber official notes 300% increase in Iranian and Hezbollah attacks since Oct 7 massacre

Israeli Deputy Cyber Defense chief Nitzan Amar revealed on Tuesday that Iranian and Hezbollah cyber attacks against the Jewish state have tripled since the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7, 2023.

“The last year was not a normal year, but a challenging and unique one,” Amar announced at the Cybertech 2025 conference in Tel Aviv. “Ever since the war broke out, we have observed a major amplification in the scope of Iran and Hezbollah’s malicious activity targeting Israeli entities.”

The Israeli cyber conference attracted cyber experts, government and company representatives from some 50 countries worldwide.

Although hacking attacks have surged dramatically, Amar emphasized that Israel’s enemies have not been successful in preventing Israel from protecting itself.

“Despite our enemies’ efforts, not a single attack targeting an Israeli entity was able to harm neither our national infrastructure, nor the IDF operational freedom to fulfill its missions since October 7.”

However, he revealed that Israel had faced an unprecedented 300% increase in "phishing" attacks intended to “exploit information, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and disrupt the daily life of Israeli civilians.”

The top cyber official revealed that since the Oct. 7 terror attack, Israel has boosted its defense systems with the implementation of a “Cyber Dome” program.

“During the war, we began implementing the ‘Cyber Dome’ program to bolster national cyber defense.”

“We deployed advanced defensive technologies that played a crucial role in mitigating these threats,” Amar added.

Last June, former Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) Director-General Gaby Portnoy warned that Iranian-led cyber attacks had become a threat to global security.

Addressing the Cybertech conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Portnoy stressed the need for global cooperation against cyberattacks from Iran and other malicious actors.

“Iran can attack Israel with the click of a button, and are doing it three times more than before, but they can also attack the UK, US, Albania and even the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and this is what the world understood,” Portnoy warned. “Everybody is trying to work alone, which is not enough – we need to build a joint front to fight our attackers and cyberterrorism together,” he urged.

Portnoy voiced concern about a potential “October 7 in cyberspace,” urging conference participants to consider “whether we are ready for it.”

He argued that preventing a massive-scale cyber attack required an optimized resilience and global cooperation between governments.

“To meet this kind of challenge, we need to prepare to build better resilience, improve the culture of sharing, and embrace change together,” he said. “It’s not just about critical infrastructure…but we must also look at our supply chain, our service providers, and the wider range of small and medium businesses.”

Chris Barton, who serves as the UK Trade Commissioner for Europe, believes there are good opportunities for cyber cooperation between the United Kingdom and Israel.

“One of the reasons to come to Israel is to demonstrate very strong support from the UK for the people of Israel,” Barton said. “Cyberterrorism is a shared risk and a shared challenge, and that’s why it is one of the areas in which it’s really important that we work together.”

The British official appeared to share Portnoy’s assessment that friendly countries can benefit from global cooperation and the exchange of experience and expertise.

“It’s really important that they can learn from each other – no one has a monopoly of genius in this area,” Barton said.

While the Iranian-led cyber attacks constitute a global threat, they simultaneously boost the cyber tech industry in Israel.

In April 2023, the Israeli cybersecurity sector was experiencing a business boom as a result of an increased global demand for cyber security solutions to meet the growing threats.