Cyber Incident Victim: Tel Aviv Municipality
Date:
Jul 2022
Location:
Israel
Summary
The Tel Aviv Municipality website was targeted in a cyberattack claimed by an Iraqi hacker group known as al-Tahera, which reportedly breached and took down the site. The group, associated with Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units, publicized the attack through the Sabereen News Telegram channel, framing it as part of ongoing cyber operations against Israeli entities. This incident followed a similar attack against Israel's NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd., which handles transit infrastructure development in Tel Aviv. The hackers asserted successful disruption of the municipality's online presence, though specific technical details or broader consequences were not disclosed in the initial reports.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 1 technique |
| Threat Actor | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 actor | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On July 11, 2022, the Tel Aviv Municipality website was targeted in a cyberattack claimed by the Iraqi hacker group al-Tahera. The group announced its operation through Sabereen News, a Telegram channel linked to Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), stating they had successfully breached and taken down the website. This incident occurred one week after a similar attack on Israeli NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd., which was responsible for developing Tel Aviv’s mass transit infrastructure. The attack formed part of a broader pattern of cyber operations by Iraqi groups against Israeli entities, though the specific technical methods used to compromise the municipality’s website were not disclosed in available reports. No details regarding the duration of the outage or the exact time of detection were provided by the sources.
The attack disrupted public access to the municipal website, though the full scope of operational impacts—such as service interruptions or data compromise—remained unverified in open-source reporting. Al-Tahera’s public claim via Sabereen News framed the operation as retaliation within the context of ongoing geopolitical tensions. PressTV’s coverage cited the hackers’ success in breaching the site but did not reference any official statements from the Tel Aviv Municipality or Israeli authorities regarding incident response, forensic findings, or restoration efforts. The incident mirrored tactics observed in the prior attack on NTA, suggesting a coordinated campaign targeting Israeli civilian infrastructure. No additional collateral damage or secondary effects beyond the website takedown were documented in the available source material.