Iran cyberattacks on Israel surged in 2026: Israeli cyber chief

The number of Iranian cyberattacks against Israel has shot up since the launch of the US-Israeli offensive against Iran this year, a senior Israeli security official was quoted as saying on Monday.

Yossi Karadi, Director General of Israel's National Cyber Directorate, told German newspaper Die Welt that in June 2025, during Israeli military operations against Iran, Israel's authorities registered around 1,600 hostile cyber incidents.

During the same month in 2026, the number had jumped to some 4,800 incidents, he told the paper.

"Some groups are very skilled," Karadi said, according to the German text of the interview. "We can handle them, but we have to take them seriously. Unlike in the kinetic realm, there's no ceasefire in cyberspace."

Karadi said the attacks were directed against systems used by Israel's critical infrastructure, central organisations, small- to medium-sized companies and the public, citing law practices and accounting firms as among the smaller ones hit.

"So far — and hopefully it stays that way — we've managed to fend off attacks on critical infrastructure," he said.

Companies that were easier to penetrate often ended up having their computer systems wiped, he said, without mentioning any names.

Iran typically denies carrying out hacking campaigns against other countries while reporting attacks on itself.