Israel became the main target of hacktivist campaigns in the first half of 2026
Israel became the most frequent target of hacktivist campaigns worldwide in the first half of 2026: the country accounted for approximately one in six such campaigns. According to Radware’s H1 2026 Global Threat Report, 784 claims of attacks against Israeli targets were recorded, or 16% of all declared hacktivist campaigns, The Jerusalem Post reports.
Gap with other countries
The United States ranked second by share of claims of hacktivist attacks, with 8%. The United Kingdom was third. A significant number of secondary attacks also targeted European countries supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia, the aggressor state.
Radware noted that at the beginning of the year, the number of attacks of this type was at a record low, but increased during the war between the United States, Israel and Iran. At the same time, the first half of 2026 overall became one of the periods with the lowest hacktivist activity compared with previous years. According to the company’s assessment, the largest surge in such attacks was recorded after the October 7 attack and the start of Israel’s war with Hamas.
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Infrastructure among the main targets
Radware Vice President of Cyber Intelligence Ron Meyran said that an important conclusion is not only Israel’s first-place ranking, but also the widening gap between it and other countries. According to him, the digital space has become an inseparable part of military conflicts, and the campaign against Iran showed how quickly dozens of groups can mobilize to attack Israeli organizations.
According to the report, 85% of attack claims in the first half of the year came from groups belonging to a pro-Russian and anti-Western alliance. The most active was the NoName057 group, which claimed responsibility for nearly 40% of the attacks. The attacks were mainly directed at infrastructure and industrial facilities providing essential services. Government institutions were targets in 37% of campaigns, the manufacturing sector in 8%, businesses in 7%, the hotel sector in 6%, and the financial sector in 5%.
The report also points to attempts to disrupt the operation of autonomous systems (ASNs). Among the companies most affected by these attacks were Microsoft, at 22%, Amazon Web Services, at 13%, and Google Cloud Platform, at 7%. European hosting providers, including Hetzner Online GmbH, were also listed among secondary targets.
