Iran turning to cyber-enabled influence operations for greater effect

Iranian state actors since June have latched on to a new set of preferred techniques, combining cyber and influence operations (IO) – what we refer to as cyber-enabled influence operations – for greater geopolitical effect. Multipole Iranian state groups have turned to cyber-enabled IO more regularly to boost, exaggerate, or compensate for shortcoming in their network access or cyberattack capabilities. More fundamentally, they have combined offensive cyber operations with multi-pronged influence operations to fuel geopolitical change in alignment with the regime’s objectives. This has included operations this year that have sought to bolster Palestinian resistance, foment Shi’ite unrest in the Guld, and counter the normalization of Arab-Israeli ties.<sup>1

1 “Hackers Target Israeli TV/Radio Infrastructure,” 6 May 2021, al-sarira.com/2021/05/06/hackers-target-israeli-tv-radio-infrastructure/; “Listen: Hackers broke into 100 FM broadcasts” (machine translation from Hebrew), 6 May 2021, ice.co.il/media/news/article/819193; web.archive.org/web/20210616224505/https://www.hackersofsavior.com/eventitem.html</sup>