The Israel Defense Forces revealed on Sunday that it has been engaged in cyber warfare for years, using the Internet to gather intelligence and thwart enemy activities.
The revelation, made in a story on the IDF Spokesman’s Office website on Sunday, comes days after a computer virus was revealed to have wreaked havoc across the Middle East and in Iran. Many have pointed to Israel or the United States as being behind the super-sophisticated Flame and other similar programs.
The Instruction and Doctrine Division of the Operations Directorate formulated the directives and methods of its cyber warfare in a document contained in the release. The document stated the IDF regards this kind of war in the same light as the land, sea, air and space battlefields.
According to the statement, “there are many operational cyber warfare objectives, including disruption of enemy projects that aim to limit the operational freedom of both the IDF and the State of Israel, as well as incorporating cyber activity at all fronts and in every kind of conflict.”
The document said Israel intends to leverage cyberspace as a key tool for improving the effectiveness of its military operational capacity and awareness of different audiences.
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