Middle East & Africa | Byte the bullet

Iran’s electronic confrontation with Israel

The two adversaries are engaged in an intense cyber struggle, with Israel still a click ahead

The illustration shows green neon outlines of multiple browser windows layered on top of each other. Inside one browser window is the Iranian national emblem, and inside another is the Star of David.
Illustration: Joan Wong
|Tel Aviv

ZIV HOSPITAL is nestled at the bottom of Safed, the highest city in Israel, not far from the border with Syria and Lebanon. In November the hospital acknowledged that hackers had penetrated its computer systems. An Iran-backed hacking group would later claim to have gained access to 500 gigabytes of patient data, including 100,000 medical records linked to Israeli soldiers. That is hardly unusual. Hackers regularly target and breach hospitals, usually to extort ransoms.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Byte the bullet”

From the August 17th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Middle East & Africa

Hamas fighters secure an area in a square before handing over four Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Gaza City on January 25, 2025

Hamas talks a big game but is in chaos

Look beyond the latest bravado and brutality and it is bitterly split

Members of the Iranian Basij paramilitary force march as a missile is displayed during a parade

Iran’s alarming nuclear dash will soon test Donald Trump

There is no plausible civilian use for the enhanced uranium Iran is producing



Rwanda’s reckless plan to redraw the map of Africa

The fall of Goma could trigger another Congo conflict

Three big lawsuits against Meta in Kenya may have global implications

One was prompted by the murder of an Ethiopian professor

Trump should try to end, not manage, the Middle East’s oldest conflicts

And he should see the region as more than a source of instability and arms deals