The IDF released an article on Thursday detailing some of the policies and practices the cyber section of the military employs against threats emanating from Hamas during Operation Guardians of the Wall, which has been underway for the past two weeks.
Beyond physical Hamas targets being destroyed by the IDF, the military has also sought to disrupt Hamas' cyber capabilities. Since the onset of hostilities, the report noted that the Israeli Air Force has destroyed at least 10 infrastructure targets used by Hamas operatives in order to conduct cyber attacks on Israel's cyber infrastructure.
With the aid of The Center for Enemy Cyber Research in the Spectrum and Cyber Defense Division, which consists of hundreds of soldiers trained specifically to conduct intelligence research in the cyber world, the Israeli Air Force was able to destroy the 10 Hamas targets. Some of the targets included Hamas weapon storage areas.
The mission of the IDF's cyber section is, using advanced technological tools, to research and characterize cyber targets posing a threat to the IDF and Israel, in addition to the capabilities, both cyber and material, of enemy combatants.
"We first find out what software the enemy is using to harm us," said an unnamed senior defense official, "and the next step is to study these long-term technologies and their development trends so we can thwart and disrupt them, and of course locate the source of the threat before it materializes."
The center originally opened in 2016 with a focus on forward operations being conducted by the unit against cyber threats.
"It was something very innovative, only then did we realize that a separate body was needed to investigate in depth all cyber threats against the IDF," the unnamed official added.
Regarding the domains of operation, the unnamed official said that "There are two intangible dimensions, both of which can be operated virtually, but are different in nature. The first is related to mobile communications, and the second is the global space that is not confined to borders."
On the effectiveness of IDF cyber operations against Hamas during Operation Guardians of the Wall, the unnamed official noted that "Hamas' cyber arrays were neutralized in the fighting and removed from the circle of effectiveness, arrays that could disrupt vital systems and sensitive reservoirs. We stand for zero achievements for the enemy in this dimension of fighting - there were attempts at the beginning to challenge us and they failed because of a strong IDF cyber defense system."