LONDON: IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), the leading global source of critical information and insight, on Tuesday, at the Counter-terror Expo in London, released new analysis on the cyber-attacks in the Middle East.
“Our analysis shows that there is a direct correlation between what is going on offline to what is going on online,” Terry Pattar, senior consultant at IHS Aerospace, Defence and Security, said.
“A variety of actors within the region are engaged in cyber-attacks targeting individuals and organisations around the world to further their regional political aims. We can expect conflicts in the Middle East to have an increasing cyber impact from now on.”
Over the past five years, real world conflicts and political upheaval in the Middle East have driven an increase in the range and frequency of cyber-attacks. This ranges from high profile cyber-attacks by ‘hacktivist’ groups hijacking well-known accounts on social media platforms, to the activities of persistent threat groups who have conducted cyber espionage against specific individuals, organisations and governments for political reasons.
Three conflicts in the region have driven an escalation in the capability and intent of Middle Eastern cyber attackers: the Syrian conflict, long-standing political tensions between Iran and other states, and the enmity between Israel and its neighbours.
The Syrian government has targeted opposition activists and has been supported by the Syrian Electronic Army hacking group, who has sought to attack Western news outlets to strike back against negative coverage of the Syrian government. On the other side of the conflict, the Islamic State and its supporters are exploiting social media platforms to raise their international profile, not only by creating and running their own accounts, but also by hijacking the accounts of prominent news organisations, government departments and military branches.
Iran was famously targeted by the Stuxnet attack that struck its nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz in 2010. Since then Iran appears to have struck back, as it has been blamed for a number of cyber-attacks that have increased in sophistication and potential impact.
More recently, individuals and organisations in Israel have been targeted by persistent threat groups based in Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories and Egypt, which have sought to infiltrate networks to steal valuable information.
“As a result of these conflicts, we are seeing a new trend emerge: the cyber arms race,” Pattar said. “As countries like Israel and Iran build up their cyber capabilities, we are likely to see others in the region try to keep up and outdo the others.”
The Syrian conflict is driving a huge growth in cyber-attacks on both sides, and attacks are getting more sophisticated and more effective. The recent attack linked to the Islamic State that took France’s TV5 Monde off the air is a sign of the growing capability of Middle Eastern cyber attackers and highlights the emerging threat faced by the Western organisations and individuals who are being targeted. “France’s TV5 was targeted because France is involved in airstrikes targeting the Islamic State,” Pattar said. “These kinds of attacks are likely to continue, especially when there is propaganda value to be gained.”
For anyone involved in analysing current conflicts and security issues in the Middle East, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the changing dynamics of cyber threats emanating from the region’s conflicts and political rivalries.