DISINFORMATION UNCHAINED — It’s a new chapter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and what’s happening on the ground and in the skies is only being fanned by an unprecedented level of disinformation online — which has grown so rampant that cyber experts fear could worsen the violence. “We’ve identified millions of pieces of content flying back and forth,” Dan Brahmy, the CEO for the Tel Aviv-based social media threat intelligence company Cyabra, tells MC. “This is probably one of the first times I can tell you that it’s not just the quality — but it’s actually the quantity. It’s about three or four times bigger than we’ve ever seen.” — Context: There is an enormous amount of unverifiable content flying across messaging apps and social media, but it’s particularly stark with X — where experts say there has been little to prevent the social media storm. It includes old footage from other wars, footage from video games and misinformation about how the operation came to be and who is involved. It also includes a now-deleted tweet from Elon Musk, posting accounts to follow that are famous for their spread of fake news to his millions of followers. The amount of questionable content and the speed at which it is coming far outpaces efforts to verify the information, the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab’s Middle East fellow Dina Sadek tells MC. “There is an overwhelming amount of content circulating on social media platforms and messaging apps at the moment,” Sadek said in an email. “The situation is still developing to determine the patterns, and misinformation and disinformation content is widespread amid a lot of confusion.” X did not respond to a request for comment. — Bot talk: According to an analysis of bot soldiers by Cyabra — which had been previously hired by Musk during his legal battle for the X platform last year — more than 20 percent of social media accounts in the conversation are fake, and they mostly operate on X and TikTok. When asked how X has been dealing with the scourge of disinformation, Brahmy says he hasn’t seen a decrease in the amount of disinformation — an indication that its efforts to stop it aren’t powerful enough. — Watch your pockets: It may not be just to create confusion, but also a tactic to extract information using phishing techniques in the midst of the chaos. Brahmy tells MC that Hamas-linked social accounts are being created for the purpose of gathering sensitive details from Israeli victims. “[People] become targets from a cybersecurity standpoint,” Brahmy said. “And it’s working as effectively as it can.” — Fog of war: Despite the hype, a major cyber disruption or destructive attack has not yet occurred — and claims online to the contrary may just be another example of disinformation. “We have not seen any evidence of Israel or Hamas using cyberattacks to augment the current situation on the ground,” threat intelligence analyst Alexander Leslie at Recorded Future tells Maggie. “The overwhelming majority of attacks claimed by hacktivist groups are false, misleading, or exaggerated in impact, with the goal of sowing fear, uncertainty, and doubt among observers.” When asked if Iran can be identified as being involved in the attacks, a State Department spokesperson tells MC “it’s too early to say,” adding that it is “actively monitoring any malign foreign state and non-state disinformation,” especially from Iran and Russia. — Meanwhile: Israel, which imposes a land, air and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip with Egypt, plans to turn off the electricity in Gaza as part of its declared siege — which could also severely alter the cyber landscape. “Disinformation and propaganda are the nerves of cyber warfare,” said Mona Shtaya, a Ramallah-based non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. “Israel deliberately cuts off electricity and shuts down the Internet every time it attacks the Gaza Strip in order to control the narrative.” HACK TIMELINE — Before Hamas launched rockets into Israel on Saturday morning, Iran-aligned hacking group Cyber Av3ngers claimed it had hit Noga, an independent infrastructure contractor of Israel’s National Electricity Authority, the group wrote on its Telegram channel. Here’s how it played out Saturday: — At 7:33 a.m.: The pro-Russian group Anonymous Sudan launched a distributed denial-of-service attack against Israel’s Red Alert app, which provides real-time rocket alerts to citizens. Meanwhile, a pro-Palestinian hacktivist group, AnonGhost, said it had tampered with the app’s messages, including by sending out a fake message about a nuclear bomb threat to several users. — At 6:54 p.m.: The Jerusalem Post’s English-language news site was taken down by Anonymous Sudan, which claimed it had deleted all articles as well. “We are actively addressing the situation and will be back soon, continuing to serve as your top source of information on Operation Swords of Iron and the violent attacks by Hamas,” the Jerusalem Post said on X. — 7:10 p.m.: Cyber Av3ngers claimed to have completely taken offline the Israeli Electric Corporation. The IEC’s site was still down after MC was readied Monday night. — By 8:41 p.m.: Anonymous Sudan wrote on its Telegram channel that it was targeting “critical endpoints in the alert systems of Israel, which may affect the Iron Dome” — the rocket air-defense system that protects major cities.
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