Hamas Emerges as Newest Cyber Espionage Powerhouse

The Iran-backed Hamas terror group is investing great resources in its cyber espionage capabilities, opening an increasingly dangerous front in its war against Israel, according to a new report.

“Hamas has demonstrated steady improvement in its cyber capabilities and operations over time, especially in its espionage operations against internal and external targets,” the Atlantic Council think tank said in a report this week. “The group’s burgeoning cyber capabilities, alongside its propaganda tactics, pose a threat to Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and U.S. interests in the region—especially in tandem with the group’s capacities to fund, organize, inspire, and execute kinetic attacks.”

While Hamas is well-known for its deadly terror strikes on Israel, the group is putting an increased emphasis on its virtual attack networks, which should not be underestimated, according to the report. “It comes as a surprise to many security experts that Hamas—chronically plagued by electricity shortages in the Gaza Strip, with an average of just 10 to 12 hours of electricity per day—even possesses cyber capabilities,” the Atlantic Council said.

Cyber espionage campaigns allow Hamas to wage outsized influence on its enemies, particularly Israel. Hack attacks orchestrated by Hamas in recent years have exposed Israeli military secrets and infiltrated the country’s law enforcement apparatus, highlighting the danger the terror group poses in the virtual world.

Cyber campaigns, the report says, allow Hamas “to engage and inflict far more damage on powerful actors, like Israel, than would otherwise be possible in conventional conflict,” where munitions and other expensive military hardware is needed.

The newfound capabilities were on full display in April, when a Hamas-led cyber espionage campaign targeted Israel’s military, law enforcement, and emergency services networks. The attack “used previously undocumented malware featuring enhanced stealth mechanisms,” according to the report.

Through social media networks like Facebook—”a hallmark of many Hamas espionage operations”—Israeli targets were fooled into downloading applications with malware. Once downloaded, Hamas was able to gain access to “a wide range of information from the device’s documents, camera, and microphone, acquiring immense data on the target’s whereabouts, interactions, and more,” according to the report.

This behavior, the Atlantic Council warns, “is in some ways similar to the Russian concept of ‘information confrontation,’ featuring a blend of technical, information, and psychological operations aimed at wielding influence over the information environment.”

Hamas’s progress in the cyber domain has not gone unnoticed by Israel, despite little media attention on the issue.

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