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Israel’s National Cyber Directorate said on March 7, 2023, that a joint investigation with Technion – Israel Institute of Technology attributed the February cyberattack on the university to MuddyWater, a group Israel describes as affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). That is Israel’s attribution and assessment, not an independently established finding. The attack targeted Technion in Haifa; contemporaneous reporting dates it to February 11 and describes disruption lasting several days.
What Israel attributed to MuddyWater
In a report published March 13, 2023, Israel’s National Cyber Directorate called MuddyWater an Iranian government-sponsored threat actor and said the directorate and Technion jointly investigated the incident. The report identifies MuddyWater as responsible for the attack. The attribution should be understood as the Israeli authorities’ conclusion, rather than a claim independently proven by the public material cited here.
The public-facing identity associated with the incident was DarkBit, not the name of the group Israel says was behind it. The distinction matters: a ransom demand or ransomware-style public claim does not by itself establish that a financially motivated ransomware gang carried out the intrusion.
Why the directorate described it as an influence operation
The directorate said DarkBit created a Telegram channel days before the attack was publicized and used it to publish data it described as leaked. It assessed that collecting ransom did not appear to be the operation’s main purpose, and that the activity also carried anti-Israeli messaging.
The report characterized the combination of destructive activity and messaging as significant, stating: “On February 2023, for the first time, the threat actor combined a destructive operation with an influence campaign against an Israeli target.” That sentence is the directorate’s wording and its assessment of the operation.
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What is known about the attack on Technion
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is in Haifa. CyberScoop’s contemporaneous March 8, 2023 account gives February 11 as the attack date and reports that the disruption continued over several days. The available incident-specific information here does not establish a reliable statistic for the attack’s impact.
Ransom totals reported at the time differed. CyberScoop described an initial demand of roughly $1.7 million, while Israel National News reported 104 bitcoin and a different dollar conversion. Those are outlet-specific reports, not a settled figure, so they should not be treated as a verified amount.
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MuddyWater’s broader history and reported methods
Israel’s report says MuddyWater has been active since 2017 and lists the aliases Earth Vetala, MERCURY, Static Kitten, Seedworm and TEMP.Zagros. A joint advisory issued on February 24, 2022, by the FBI, CISA, U.S. Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre describes the group as an Iranian government-sponsored actor and a subordinate element within MOIS. The advisory says its cyber espionage and other malicious operations have affected government and private-sector organizations across multiple sectors and regions.
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The directorate’s report also describes activity against Israeli organizations involving Log4j exploitation, remote-access tools and recent attempts to distribute SyncroRAT. It names PowerShower and PowerStallion among tools associated with MuddyWater activity. These are broader activity descriptions; they should not be mistaken for proof that any one of those methods or tools was used in the Technion intrusion.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What organizations can take from the joint advisory
The 2022 FBI, CISA, CNMF and NCSC advisory offers general defensive recommendations for organizations. It does not establish that any particular safeguard was missing at Technion. Its guidance includes:
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