{"id":299498,"date":"2026-02-19T16:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/299498\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T16:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:56:11","slug":"israel-ranks-1st-among-countries-targeted-by-geopolitical-cyberattacks-in-2025-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/299498\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel ranks 1st among countries targeted by geopolitical cyberattacks in 2025 \u2014 report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel was the most attacked country in the world by geopolitically motivated hackers and malicious actors in 2025, as the country\u2019s multifront wars with the Hamas terror group and Iran and its proxies spurred a spike in cyberattacks, according to the annual global cyber threat analysis report published Thursday by Israeli cybersecurity firm Radware.<\/p>\n

With 12.2 percent of all global geopolitically motivated cyberattacks directed at the country over the past year, Israel is at the top of the 2025 list, followed by the United States with 9.4%, and Ukraine with 8.9%, according to Radware\u2019s report. This means that almost one in eight ideologically motivated attacks in the world was directed against Israel, as state and national conflicts are increasingly shifting into the digital arena.<\/p>\n

Radware noted that the \u201cdistribution underscores the role of hacktivism as a proxy weapon in international conflicts, used to disrupt the digital infrastructure of perceived state adversaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two-year Hamas war in Gaza and the 12-day military conflict with Iran in June last year have fueled hacktivist activities, leading to an increase in politically motivated cyberattacks targeting public, private, and critical infrastructure. In 2025, Israel was the target of 1,881 unique attack claims, up from 1,550 a year earlier, according to Radware data.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, cyber defense chief Yossi Karadi warned that Israel needs to bolster its preparedness for what he described as a fast-approaching \u201ccyber war.\u201d<\/a> Meanwhile, the Shin Bet security agency and National Cyber Directorate said that in recent months, hundreds<\/a> of Iranian cyberattacks targeting Israelis \u2014 including senior government and defense officials, academics, and journalists \u2014 were detected and foiled. In 2025, the National Cyber Directorate said it saw an increase of 55% in the number of cyberattacks year-on-year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSign up for the Tech Israel Daily
\n\t\t\tand never miss Israel’s top tech stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

Radware analysis found that across all targeted countries, government services were the primary focus for hacktivists, accounting for 38.8% of all claimed attacks as bad actors sought to disrupt state functions and undermine public confidence.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIsrael ranks first as the target of geopolitical cyberattacks, according to Radware\u2019s 2026 Global Cyber Threat report. (Courtesy of Radware)<\/p>\n

The availability of generative AI tools enables attackers with relatively limited resources to launch large-scale automated campaigns, including account takeover attempts, data scraping, and repeated login attacks. As a result, many cyberattacks are extremely short, sometimes lasting less than a minute, making manual detection increasingly difficult, according to the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threat landscape is evolving rapidly,\u201d said Radware VP of threat intelligence Ron Meyran. \u201cAttackers are now combining automation, artificial intelligence, and multi-vector strategies to disrupt operations at scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOrganizations must adopt automated defenses capable of responding in seconds, not minutes,\u201d Meyran cautioned.<\/p>\n

Among the top three hacktivist groups targeting Israel in 2025 were the pro-Iran group Arabian Ghosts, followed by Black Ember, pro-Palestinian Mr Hamza, and pro-Russian group NoName057(16). Across all countries, NoName057(16) was the top hacktivist actor in terms of the number of attacks in 2025.<\/p>\n

Globally, cyberattacks using a so-called Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) model \u2013 where hackers flood websites with traffic to slow or halt operations on systems \u2013 soared by 168% last year compared to 2024, according to the report.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tTop hacker groups targeting Israel in 2025, according to Radware\u2019s 2026 Global Cyber Threat report. (Courtesy of Radware)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data confirms that hacktivists prioritize countries with ongoing geopolitical conflicts, using DDoS attacks as a tool for political protest and nationalist signaling,\u201d said Radware. \u201cIdeologically driven threat actors are running ongoing DDoS campaigns against government websites, critical infrastructure, and commercial companies, sometimes publicly claiming responsibility for attacks in real time through dedicated Telegram channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2025, malicious activity targeting websites and digital services rose by more than 120% compared to the previous year. Radware noted that the application layer has become the primary battleground, as it allows attackers to directly disrupt business systems, customer operations, and core organizational processes.<\/p>\n

Radware said it expects 2025 trends to \u201ccontinue in the coming years, with application-focused attacks, automated activity, and the use of cyberspace as a tool in geopolitical conflicts becoming a permanent part of the operating environment for organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tIs accurate Israel coverage important to you?\t\t\t<\/p>\n

If so, we have a request.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every day during the past two years of war and rising global anti-Zionism and antisemitism, our journalists kept you abreast of the most important developments that merit your attention. Millions of people rely on ToI for fact-based coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We care about Israel – and we know you do too. So we have an ask for this new year of 2026: express your values by joining The Times of Israel Community, an exclusive group for readers like you who appreciate and financially support our work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tI’m with you and will give\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tI’m with you and will give\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.<\/p>\n

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing\u00a0exclusive content\u00a0available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel was the most attacked country in the world by geopolitically motivated hackers and malicious actors in 2025,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-299498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}