Israel’s Biggest Wartime Lesson: How Private CCTVs, Smart Homes, Billboards Became Weapons For Hamas

Private cameras installed at residences and private spaces by civilians became the biggest tool for Hamas, denting the preparation of defence forces and giving Israel the biggest lesson from the digital world. Smart houses became a tool for Hamas to generate information which was used by terror outfits.

According to the Israeli government, before October 7 last year, Hamas not only got access to CCTV cameras installed all over the city by civilians, but also managed to control billboards with messages. The government has said that all cyberattacks had active involvement from Iran and Hezbollah.

Gaby Portnoy, Director General of Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD), said the government had inputs about such activities, but Hamas surprised them with the gravity of the cyber attack. “We had enough information about October 7, but they succeeded in surprising us,” Portnoy told News18 in Tel Aviv.

Portnoy has served in a series of senior positions, including the Head of Operations in the Intelligence Corps, commander of Unit 9900, and Head of Planning TKINA and Budgets in the Intelligence Corps before joining as DG INCD.

PREPARATION WHICH SURPRISED ISRAEL

Before executing the October 7 massacre, where over 360 people were killed during a music festival, Hamas, the terror organisation, managed get access to CCTVs installed at various residences and shops.

Smart houses equipped with technology faced a cyber attack. Officials involved in protecting cyber infrastructure of Israel said that Hamas connected the information gathered through these smart houses and CCTV footages to generate inputs before the attack.

Hamas also got access to billboards and started pushing messages which were pulled down by Israel cyber security agency INCD. “Hamas attacked smart houses and billboards. Hamas collected private information through CCTVs. Till date, Israel has faced 1,992 potential cyber attacks,” Portnoy told News18. The DG of top cyber security agency also said that all cyber attack groups acting on behalf of Iran and Hezbollah held relentless assaults against Israel.

The DG cautioned against the potential repercussions of AI-empowered influence campaigns, stressing the risks to digital trust and functional continuity in an era where loss of trust can be deeply damaging for governments and digital services.

WHAT ISRAEL DID?

Just after the October attack, the analysis showed how Hamas had so much information. Immediately, the Israel Government, in a first, controlled the cameras and pulled them down to avoid further usage to track movements of Israeli defence forces or to collect any other information.

SPECIAL WARTIME LAW

After the October attack, Israel introduced a new law and cleared it as well, which gave the Israeli Army and security services the access to private security cameras without the knowledge of the owner.

The Israel government said it will help make CCTVs hostile for terror outfits. Consequently, the IDF and the Shin Bet will be able to get access to private security cameras without requiring any permission from court.