Since the Stuxnet attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Tehran has focused on expanding its cyber operations and digital surveillance capabilities. Iran sees its ally, Hezbollah, as a key part of its enhanced cyber program. The Iranian government has provided cyber training and technology to Hezbollah operatives and recently helped the Lebanese-based Shia terrorist group build its own counterintelligence cyber unit. This is a new development: in 2018, a Carnegie Endowment for Peace report noted how “there has been little prior evidence of direct sharing of [cyber] tools” between Iran and Hezbollah. After the collapse of the Islamic State caliphate, Hezbollah has taken on the mantle of being the most sophisticated and influential Middle Eastern terrorist organization in cyberspace.
