Security bodies say they foiled hundreds of Iranian cyberattacks against senior Israelis in past months

Hundreds of Iranian cyberattacks targeting Israelis — including senior government and defense officials, academics and journalists — were detected and foiled in recent months, the Shin Bet security agency and National Cyber Directorate say.

According to a joint statement, there has been a noted rise in attempts by Iranian intelligence agents to hack the private Google accounts of Israelis since June 2025’s 12-day war with Iran.

“The purpose of these attempts is to collect personal and professional information that could be used to advance terrorist activity, espionage, and influence operations in the form of ‘targeted phishing,'” the Shin Bet and Cyber Directorate say.

They say the method includes “personalized approaches tailored to the target’s fields of interest, impersonating a familiar figure and inviting them to a meeting or to download files via a link, as well as ‘phishing impersonation’ messages aimed at obtaining the target’s login details, with emphasis on the password and even the additional verification code for the Google, Telegram or WhatsApp account, thus granting the attacker full access to these accounts.”

The Shin Bet and Cyber Directorate say that in recent months, they have managed to foil hundreds of such attacks.