Disinformation and Fake News Now the Biggest Off-Ground Hamas Weapons Against Israel

While the Israel Defense Forces are fighting on ground, there is a team that is fighting a bigger and longer war. Fighting Hamas has taught Israel about the potential of weaponisation of disinformation and fake news which have become major headaches for Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD).

Despite deploying the whole system to tackle disinformation, Israel has made limited progress in the area unlike the on-ground situation, especially after Hezbollah also pushed its cyber assets into use.

CERT, Israel’s cyber emergency response team, and INCD have been spending more time in controlling the damage due to disinformation and fake news pumped by Hamas and Hezbollah terror outfits on social media.

Gaby Portnoy, Director General of Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD), said disinformation, cyber terrorism, fake news are the biggest challenges.

“We dealt with all types of fake information, disinformation just after October 7 last year. On digital space, we have been noticing all types of disinformation which is pushed against Israel,” Gaby said.

Israel agencies are facing pressure due to disinformation cocktailed with AI and digital space. “After the October 7 massacre, I always think what will the October 7 in cyber space? Iran is attacking various countries, including India, US, Saudi Arabia. Iran is becoming international problem,” Gaby said during his Cyber Week address, adding that it is a psychological war too.

Official data shows that Hamas primarily targeted social media accounts of Israel.

Dana Toren, who heads the National Cyber Emergency Response Team, says social media hacking after the October 7 attack by Hamas increased rapidly. Data shared by Dana shows that in last nine months, social media hacking accounts for 50% of total cyber attacks.

“The cyber incidents reported during Iron Sword war has increased by 68%. The average inquiry on our cyber helpline was 50 per day which has seen 10-fold increase. The majority is social media hacking (3,606) followed by phishing (1,449) and intrusion (873),” Dana said.

The data shows how Hamas also manipulated GPS system which triggered a high number of reports to Israeli CERT. The CERT is divided industry-wise where a small dedicated team works in response to cyber emergencies. The CERT is divided into different verticals like environment, government services, private sector, energy etc.