Carnegie: Hezbollah has become the most influential group in cyberspace – What is the role of Iran?
Terrorism is not just a deadly bomb, but cyber-attacks that could disrupt entire nations, and after the collapse of ISIS, Hezbollah assumed the most sophisticated and influential terrorist organization in the Middle East in cyberspace, according to a report by the Carnegie Endowment for Peace.
Under the title: “How did Iran turn Hezbollah into a great cyber power?”. The report, published by the National Interest website, revealed that the Iranian government has provided cyber training and technology to Hezbollah members, and recently assisted the Lebanon-based Shia terrorist group in building its cyber counter-espionage unit.
According to the report, since the Stuxnet attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Tehran has focused on expanding its cyber operations and digital surveillance capabilities.
Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm first discovered in 2010 and believed to have been in development since at least 2005. It has targeted supervisory control systems and access to data and is believed to be responsible for causing serious damage to Iran’s nuclear program.
In 2018, a Carnegie Endowment for Peace report noted that there was little evidence of direct engagement of cyber tools between Iran and Hezbollah, but after the collapse of ISIS, Hezbollah assumed the role of the most sophisticated and influential terrorist organization in the Middle East in cyberspace.
“Under the direction of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah’s new cyber unit was primarily tasked with gathering intelligence on Lebanese state institutions and strengthening the cyber defenses of Iran’s security apparatus”, the report added.
