Hezbollah is more than just a designated terror group: it's a powerhouse of international crime. This has helped make it one of the world's most powerful military entities.
Excellent work. I would love to see a follow-up on the ways Hezbollah is using their cyber capabilities. There is a lot to cover. Here are just a couple of links for anyone who is interested.
"Hezbollah runs disinformation boot camps in Lebanon for the purpose of building up the “electronic armies” of Iran’s proxy groups around the region. In August 2020, The Telegraph reported that since at least 2012, Hezbollah has been flying individuals into Lebanon for courses teaching participants how to digitally manipulate photographs, manage large numbers of fake social media accounts, make videos, avoid Facebook’s censorship, and effectively spread disinformation online.
Students from Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria were among the thousands of Iran-backed social media activists who attended the ten-day courses, taught, of course, by Hezbollah specialists. One former trainee told The Telegraph that this is quote: “the illusion industry. Hezbollah is making millions of dollars running these courses, but for the clients it’s worth spending the money.”
With these trained technological operatives, Hezbollah has run large-scale, ruthless social media campaigns. It uses its networks to distribute videos that aggressively target public figures opposed to Hezbollah. A common technique is creating large networks of fake accounts that amplify certain messages by liking, commenting, and sharing each other’s posts. The result is a highly-effective disinformation campaign targeting Hezbollah’s detractors. And then, there are the video games." (quoted content is from second link below) https://georgetownsecuritystudiesreview.org/2018/03/11/the-cyber-party-of-god-how-hezbollah-could-transform-cyberterrorism/ and https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/media/6900
Excellent work. I would love to see a follow-up on the ways Hezbollah is using their cyber capabilities. There is a lot to cover. Here are just a couple of links for anyone who is interested.
"Hezbollah runs disinformation boot camps in Lebanon for the purpose of building up the “electronic armies” of Iran’s proxy groups around the region. In August 2020, The Telegraph reported that since at least 2012, Hezbollah has been flying individuals into Lebanon for courses teaching participants how to digitally manipulate photographs, manage large numbers of fake social media accounts, make videos, avoid Facebook’s censorship, and effectively spread disinformation online.
Students from Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria were among the thousands of Iran-backed social media activists who attended the ten-day courses, taught, of course, by Hezbollah specialists. One former trainee told The Telegraph that this is quote: “the illusion industry. Hezbollah is making millions of dollars running these courses, but for the clients it’s worth spending the money.”
With these trained technological operatives, Hezbollah has run large-scale, ruthless social media campaigns. It uses its networks to distribute videos that aggressively target public figures opposed to Hezbollah. A common technique is creating large networks of fake accounts that amplify certain messages by liking, commenting, and sharing each other’s posts. The result is a highly-effective disinformation campaign targeting Hezbollah’s detractors. And then, there are the video games." (quoted content is from second link below) https://georgetownsecuritystudiesreview.org/2018/03/11/the-cyber-party-of-god-how-hezbollah-could-transform-cyberterrorism/ and https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/media/6900