New research shows there were more than 237 cyber operations that targeted space infrastructure from 2023-2025.
Space satellites and communications systems are under threat from cyber warfare, a new report warns, which said there were 237 cyber operations that targeted the space sector between January 2023 and July 2025 during the conflict in Gaza.
The analysis, published by the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zürich, compiles information, including social media posts, news articles and information from cybercrime forums about cyberattacks on the Israeli space sector and international agencies.
The most dramatic increase in space cyberattacks occurred during the Israel-Iran in June 2025, when 72 operations were recorded in a single month. This represents nearly one-third of all incidents identified during the study period, the author of the report, Clémence Poirier, said.
“Cyber operations against the space sector are now part of a general trend during armed conflicts," the report read, comparing the pattern to similar activity seen during Russia’s most recent invasion of Ukraine.
All but one of the threat actors identified in the space sector were pro-Palestinian groups.
The study said that Hamas does not have satellites or any space systems over the Gaza Strip, and pro-Israeli groups might have conducted operations in secret.
What types of attacks took place?
Ten attacks occurred in the month of October following Hamas’s armed incursion on October 7, 2023. These attacks targeted organisations such as the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and the Israeli defence company Rafael.
The report said the escalation “surprised hacktivists globally,” and that it took time for them to assemble and identify targets for their attacks.
Hacktivists targeted 77 different space organisations or companies during the Gaza conflict. Rafael, the Israeli military technology company Elbit Systems and the ISA were the most targeted, but international bodies such as the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) were also included.
The report said that most of the attacks targeted aerospace and defence companies due to their role in manufacturing military equipment, not their actions in space.
More than 70 per cent of the cyber attacks in space were denial-of-service attacks (DDoS), which flood a website with cyberattacks so that a machine or network is overwhelmed and crashes for its users.
DDoS attacks don’t require much technical expertise, are quick, and can be used as distractions for more sophisticated attacks, the report says.
The other types of attacks conducted were data leaks, intrusions, and data breaches.
Some of the data sales or leaks were timed to important events in the conflict, the study said, but admitted that this was difficult to verify and said could be fabricated.
“The fact that so many incidents could be identified through manual open-source research suggests that the actual scale of activity against the space sector is likely considerably larger,” the study concluded.
Cyber operations becoming ‘consistent’ in the space sector
The largest spike of activity against the space sector happened as Israel and Iran targeted each other for 12 days in June 2025, with 72 cyber attacks. During that time, pro-Palestinian groups and pro-Iranian groups targeted Israel at the same time.
“The two wars influenced each other politically, militarily, and rhetorically, and threat actors active in one arena often engaged in operations relevant to the other,” the report notes.
Hacktivist groups also took elements of successful attacks that happened in other conflicts and replicated them in the Gaza conflict , the report added.
A 2023 DDoS attack carried out by the so-called “Cyber Army of Palestine” on the ISA used code similar to that deployed by the IT Army of Ukraine, a volunteer group fighting cyberwarfare against the Russians.
Although most incidents caused limited physical or operational damage, the report noted that the pattern of activity indicates the future of space-based cyber conflict.
The study’s conclusions also suggest that cyber operations against the space sector are becoming “consistent elements” in modern conflicts because of the interest from hacktivists to target actors in the industry.
The study suggested that space-focused cyber strategies need to be made to protect space infrastructure from further attacks.
