The National Interest magazine published a report issued by the Carnegie Endowment for Peace revealing that the Iranian team trained Hezbollah operatives, whose primary goal was to collect intelligence information on Lebanese state institutions and strengthen the cyber defences of the Iranian security apparatus.


According to the magazine, in 2015, the Iranian regime expanded its cybersecurity budget by 1,200 percent in just two years.

According to the American report, Hezbollah cells have launched attacks for more than a year on telecommunications companies and Internet providers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel and Arab countries.


Strategic Financial Goals


The Iranian-backed unit also launches cyber-attacks on strategic financial targets, such as gas and oil companies in the Gulf states. Reports indicate that the team is likely to be based in the southern suburb. 


Targeting countries in the region


It is now revealed that a Hezbollah electronic unit, known as "Cedar Abu Brians APT," had carried out attacks for more than a year on telecommunication companies and internet providers in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian territories and the United Arab Emirates.


The magazine wrote that agents of Lebanon's Saber Cedar breached 95% of the company's internal networks, such as US-based Frontier Communications, to collect sensitive data.


In 2010, the Obama administration described Hezbollah as "the most technically capable terrorist group in the world."


The magazine also revealed that many of Hezbollah's cyber trainees are from Iraq and support the pro-Iranian group in the country, Kataib Hezbollah.


The report says that "Hezbollah" uses its cyber forces to expand Iran's regional influence by spreading Tehran's strategic messages in unstable countries, such as Iraq.