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OPINEWS

Technology as a tool of war between Israel and Iran

Politiko 2025-06-19 17:27:54
Technology as a tool of war between Israel and Iran

Nadia Elbasani*

We all saw clearly how technology in the recent clashes between Israel and Iran served as a means to rapidly escalate the tensions of physical reality, serving as the main stage for the clash between nations.

On June 13, Israel followed the latest trend of cyberattacks intertwined with physical ones; it struck strategic Iranian facilities, such as the nuclear facilities in Natanz, through airstrikes. Operation “Rising Lion” combined precision missiles, highly autonomous drones, and cyber interventions. It should be noted that in the military and innovation scene, Israel is among the global leaders. This best shows that such preparation is now an integral part of a conflict.

On the other hand, Iran is not far behind in using technology as a tool of war, causing a 700% increase in DDoS attacks against Israeli systems on June 14. As a result of this offensive, coming from Iranian groups such as “Handal” and “Black Shadow”, critical Israeli systems such as the national electricity grid, water pumping stations, and traffic management systems in Tel Aviv also suffered temporary disruptions. An important element must be understood: a cyber attack is both a decrease in the reputation of a state and a disruption to daily life.

Then, on June 17, a cyberattack by the Predatory Sparrow group, linked to Israeli intelligence, first affected the financial system of Bank Sepah, which was responsible for financing IRGC projects. ATMs stopped working in some areas, mobile apps were blocked, and the public message after the attack was: “We have deleted your data – this is just the beginning.”

This month's list of events is not simply a war episode; it is a demonstration of a new dimension that conflicts between nations have taken on. Autonomous drones have become the new tool of modern warfare. As this month has demonstrated, the new means of warfare track and execute targets found by facial recognition, voice recognition, or even movement, marking a more intelligent, precise, and automated way of killing than traditional methods.

These events have made us realize that technology today only requires an “approval” button to replace a process that we can now, without fear, consider obsolete. These clashes proved that nations have technology as part of their military strategy.

The mix between international law and technological ethics, the boundaries between what is permissible and what is prohibited, have become so blurred that the question arises: Is international law prepared for the era of digital warfare?

Today, more than ever, it is noticeable that there is no international convention prohibiting cyber attacks on civilian infrastructure, or mechanisms for investigating and punishing cyber attacks with consequences for civilians. Terror and attacks on citizens, in the name of a conflict, today also come through a cyber attack, where anyone can be targeted. This is not simply a confrontation for military dominance, but a competition through technology and its means.

*The author is a lecturer in Cybersecurity Law 

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