Tehran's Grey Zone Tactics on Tel Aviv? Iran helped Hamas in Oct 7 attack on Israel by launching series of cyber attacks

Iran has been an active player in furthering the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ war efforts in Israel by not just providing financial and military assistance but also by accelerating cyber operations against the Jewish country, a recent report by Microsoft has revealed. The report, published on Tuesday, says, “Since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, Iranian government-aligned actors have launched a series of cyberattacks and influence operations (IO) intended to help the Hamas cause and weaken Israel and its political allies and business partners.” In the past, Iran has also been found to train and support Hamas with technological expertise. What does the report say? The report collated by Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) says that during the first week of the war, news websites run or affiliated by the Iranian state saw a 42 per cent jump in traffic. Much of the content published on the war during the early days was either “leaked” old material or false. “Iran’s activity quickly grew from nine Microsoft-tracked groups active in Israel during the first week of the war to 14, two weeks into the war. Cyber-enabled influence operations went from roughly one operation every other month in 2021 to 11 in October 2023 alone,” the report added. Iranian state media, it was observed, was issuing misleading information on attacks. Some groups were even re-using old materials from previous operations to exaggerate the scope of the attacks. AI-generated anchors to fake news reports Iran went to the extent of creating Artificial Intelligence-generated anchors to present fake news reports. In December 2023, live television streaming services were interrupted only to get replaced by fake news videos featuring AI-generated anchors. “This marked the first Iranian influence operation Microsoft has detected where AI played a key component in its messaging and is one example of the fast and significant expansion in the scope of Iranian operations since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict. The disruption reached audiences in the UAE, UK, and Canada,” the report said.