Tehran has intensified cyber attacks against Israel and the United States in response to the Iran war, using operations designed to spread fear, gather intelligence, and support military targeting, the Financial Times reported. 

Thousands of Israelis received text messages earlier this month purporting to be from the military and urging them to download a fake shelter app that could have stolen personal data. Others received threatening mass texts warning them to leave before Iranian missiles struck, according to the FT, which described the escalation as part of a broader online war involving Iran, Israel, the U.S., and aligned hacktivists. 

According to the report, Iran has built a layered cyber apparatus made up of operators linked directly to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Intelligence, semi-autonomous proxies and contractors, and volunteer hacktivists. Iranian-linked groups and fronts have been accused by governments and researchers of attacks ranging from doxxing employees of a U.S. defense contractor to infiltrating foreign institutions in Albania and Poland. 

One of the most consequential recent attacks attributed to Iranian-linked actors targeted Stryker, the U.S. medical technology company, disrupting supplies of critical equipment and delaying surgeries after employees were locked out of their computers. Handala, a hacking front that researchers and the U.S. government believe is tied to Iranian intelligence, claimed responsibility for wiping some 200,000 devices, the newspaper said. 

The cyber conflict has unfolded alongside conventional military operations.

The United States launched cyber attacks before last month’s initial air strikes on Iran, according to the FT, which cited General Dan Caine as saying the operations disrupted Iran’s ability to see, communicate, and respond. Israel has also used cyber intelligence extensively, including hacking Tehran traffic cameras as part of a long-running intelligence effort and sending messages through a popular Iranian prayer app encouraging defections. 

Iran, while regarded as less technically sophisticated than Russia or China, has relied on phishing, wiper malware, and psychological operations as a low-cost way to wage asymmetric conflict, the news outlet said. Israeli authorities have accused Tehran of launching thousands of wiper attacks against Israeli companies, with about 50 successful hits.

Read more at the Financial Times