A cybercriminal working for Iran attacked the computer of a former IDF chief of staff and gained access to his entire computer database , says Times of Israel . Channel 10 identified the hacker as Yaser Balaghi . He reportedly bragged about the hack afterward , but also unknowingly left a trail of his identity . This oversight forced Iran to shut down the cyber operation that had targeted 1,800 people worldwide , including Israeli army generals , Persian Gulf human rights defenders , and academics . The Times of Israel first reported on the Iranian hacking operation two weeks ago after Check Point , an Israeli cybersecurity firm , revealed its existence . Check Point information was also highlighted in a Channel 10 report on Tuesday . The CEO of Check Point Software Technologies , Gil Shwed , told Israel Radio in late January that the attack began two months earlier and that targets received email messages aimed at installing malware on their computers . More than a quarter of the recipients opened the emails , unintentionally downloading spyware and allowing the hackers to steal data from their hard drives . In the last two years , Hezbollah and the Iranian regime attacked Israel several times Several cyberattacks have been launched against Israel in the last two years . According to officials , some of the infiltration efforts were carried out by hackers associated with Hezbollah and the Iranian government . In late January , Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz stated that Israel 's Electric Authority was the subject of a serious cyberattack . However , he did not specify where the attack was coming from . In June , the Israeli cybersecurity firm ClearSky announced that it had detected a continuous wave of cyberattacks originating from Iran against targets in Israel and in the Middle East , with Israeli generals again among the targets . According to the company , the purpose is espionage or other nation - state interests . According to ClearSky , the hackers use techniques such as targeted phishing , in which they employ fake websites that appear legitimate and trustworthy to obtain user identification data . They managed to penetrate 40 targets in Israel and 500 internationally . In Israel , the targets included retired generals , employees of security consulting firms , and academic scholars . Shwed warned that the rate of cyberattacks exceeds the rate of investment in cybersecurity . According to Gadi Tirosh , the managing partner of Jerusalem Venture Partners and one of the country 's most active investors in the industry , Israel is second only to the US in cybersecurity technology . Currently , there are 173 companies in Israel that are large enough to attract venture capital and other major investors . According to a report released earlier this month by the Israel Venture Capital ( IVC ) Research Center , there are currently 430 cyber companies in Israel , with an average of 52 new cyber startups launched each year since 2000 . ;