Cyber War Without Borders: How Iran’s Tactics Against Israel Reflect a Global Threat to Open Societies

By Ilona Drozdovа

When missiles fall silent, the cyber front remains active. That’s the clearest lesson from Israel’s recent conflict with Iran—Operation “Rising Lion”—and one that deeply resonates in Ukraine, where hybrid threats have long blurred the boundaries between military and psychological warfare.

Iran’s Cyber Front in Operation “Rising Lion”

On June 13, Israel launched a preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear and military sites, marking the beginning of Operation “Rising Lion,” - a large-scale campaign aimed at striking the core of the Iranian threat.  While international attention focused on air raids and missile barrages, another war unfolded in cyberspace. Tehran responded not only with kinetic retaliation, but also with a coordinated wave of cyberattacks. Within 48 hours, incidents surged by over 700%, according to cybersecurity firm Radware, targeting  logistics, healthcare, and scientific institutions. Each attack was paired with disinformation campaigns designed to disrupt daily life and erode public confidence.

Among dozens of pro-Iranian and pro-Palestinian hacktivist groups, the most prominent was “Handala”, which claimed responsibility for stealing 425 GB of data from Mor Logistics and 4 TB from the Weizmann Institute of Science, later alleging a breach of Saban Systems, reportedly linked to Israel’s internal security apparatus.  While these claims remain unverified, their intention was clear: to target the virtual heart of Israeli civic society – to shake its morale, not through critical infrastructure collapse, but by exploiting public trust and emotional stability. One such effort involved a fake emergency alert about a gas leak in Haifa, widely circulated on messaging platforms to heighten public anxiety and stress emergency services.

Cyber Disruption Over Cyber Destruction

Iran’s evolving cyber strategy focuses on fast, symbolic operations requiring relatively modest resources yet delivering outsized psychological impact. Rather than paralyzing infrastructure, these attacks aim to dominate headlines, and project power, and sap public morale — especially during moments of military or diplomatic constraint. Civilian systems make ideal targets: highly visible, emotionally charged, and often less protected than military assets.  Hospitals, universities, and fintech platforms are far easier to exploit than hardened military systems — making them the preferred focus of cyber operations designed to shape perception rather than destroy assets. The result isn’t just disruption, but narrative dominance — a theatre of perception where cyberspace becomes both the most effective battlefield and the most deniable.

From Tehran to the Kremlin: The Authoritarian Cyber Playbook

Iran’s tactics echo those of a longer, more expansive campaign led by Russia, where hybrid warfare blends kinetic strikes with psychological operations and industrial-scale disinformation. Since 2014, Ukraine has endured repeated assaults on its power grid, civil infrastructure, and national psyche. Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels routinely impersonate local news, forged screenshots, and manipulated narratives, blurring fact and fiction, turning information into a weapon of control. These tactics don’t just mislead—they fracture moral judgment. In April 2025, when a missile strike killed several children in Kryvyi Rih, Russia’s Ministry of Defense falsely claimed the site was a military gathering. The aim was not mere deflection, but the manufacture of doubt, a key tactic in authoritarian playbooks. Like Tehran’s use of patriotic hackers, Russia employs proxy actors to saturate social feeds with distortions. Channels like “Truthful Mykolaiv” mix local news with Kremlin propaganda, creating a hybrid media environment where the familiar masks the false. In both countries, disinformation is not an accessory to war—it is a doctrine of control.

Undermining Defenses: The West’s Strategic Gaps

What makes these tactics more dangerous today is the eroding defense posture of democratic states – exemplified by recent U.S. funding cuts to key information resilience programs and foreign aid programs. The closure of the State Department’s R/FIMI disinformation office, along with cuts to Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has left critical regions—including Ukraine—more exposed to foreign interference. Ukrainian outlets like Detector Media and Slidstvo.Info, which have long relied on international partnerships, are now under strain. For some, U.S. grants covered the majority of operating budgets. While not all funding came from the U.S., the loss is deeply felt, and adversaries have moved quickly to exploit the void.

Meanwhile, Iran’s internet shutdowns during Operation Rising Lion -  officially justified as protection against Israeli cyberattacks - mirror Russia’s blackouts in occupied Ukrainian territories. In both cases, the real aim is not civilian safety, but narrative control: silencing dissent, severing communication, and reinforcing regime authority.

Shared Threat, Shared Resilience

Yet amid these assaults, both Israel and Ukraine offer important lessons in digital resilience. In Israel, the National Cyber Directorate, operating under the 2025–2028 National Cyber Strategy, has launched public campaigns to help citizens recognize fake content and navigate hybrid threats. These efforts are reinforced by cybersecurity firms like Cyabra and AI Light, as well as collaboration with educational institutions, local authorities, and media— turning public awareness into a national asset.

Ukraine draws strength from a broader alliance — ranging from state institutions like the Ministry of Digital Transformation to grassroots initiatives such as StopFake and decentralized OSINT communities. Together, they form a resilient civic ecosystem, built not just on government initiative but on societal determination.

A War Without Borders — and a Defense Built on Truth

In both countries, cyberspace is not only a battlefield — it’s a test of societal resilience. The frontline runs not only through firewalls, but through trust, education, civic cohesion, and public vigilance. From Kyiv to Jerusalem, the fight for sovereignty is as much about controlling narratives as it is about defending borders. In this war without borders, truth becomes a shared defense.

Ilona Drozdovа, a maritime security and international affairs expert