The print version of Newsweek magazine has a short but interesting article in its current July 27, 2009 issue (which I received today in my mail). It is entitled “Israel Fights Wire With Wire,” and it details what apparently was an Iranian cyberattack against Israeli government websites during the recent Israeli-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. I have not included the link as it was not available at www.newsweek.com tonight. It may be available later when the current print issue of Newsweek is archived.
I was surprised to read in the article that Iran is ranked as “one of the top five cyber-threats in the world, with capabilities comparable to China and Russia.” Previous blogs have commented on media articles reports about Russian cyberattacks against Estonia and Georgia and China’s cyber-attacks against the USA, but this is the first report I’ve seen that Iran has top-level cyberwarfare skills.
During the Israeli-Hamas war, the article reports that Israel’s “Home Front Command, which instructs citizens how to protect themselves from rocket attacks, temporarily went dark, as did dozens of other government sites, including one for Israel’s secret services.” Given the Iranian backing for Hamas and Hezbollah, it is logical to believe that the cyberattack against Israel originated from Iran.
The cyberattacks from Russia, China and Iran are so far likely just probing actions. It is doubtful that any nation will “tip its hand” by revealing its best offensive cyberwarfare skills until a serious shooting war occurs in the future. On the other hand, some nations may also have defensive capabilities against cyberwarfare attacks that have not yet been revealed. When an all-out shooting war between major nations happens in the future, we will all find out who has made the best preparation for combat in cyberspace.
The fact that Russia, China and Iran are all allies who are listed in the “top five cyber-threats” among modern nations is very consistent with biblical prophecy. Ezekiel 38:2-6 prophesies that these nations will be in the same military alliance in the latter days. Their “Gog-Magog” alliance will eventually attack the USA, the UK, NATO nations and their allies all over the globe at the end of our age. The USA and its western allies are identified by the term “Israel” in Ezekiel 38 which identifies the nations to be targeted by this prophesied attack. Although the modern Jewish nation is called “Israel” on modern secular maps, it is called “Judah” in latter-day biblical prophecies (see Zephaniah 2 and Zechariah 12 and 14). Judah is not mentioned anywhere in Ezekiel 38-39. The biblical term “Israel” applies to the latter-day descendants of the “house of Israel,” the so-called “lost ten tribes of Israel.” The world, and even Christendom for the most part, is blissfully unaware of the critical difference in understanding the difference between the biblical terms “Judah” and Israel” in latter-day prophecy. Judah and Israel were different (and often warring) nations in ancient times. They are different nations today as well. My books (available at www.bibleblessings.net) and articles on the history of the ten tribes of Israel, as well as my audio messages at the “speeches” link at this website, make it very clear who the nations of modern “Israel” are in the modern world. The biblical prophecies identifying the USA are detailed in a new audio message available at this website. It is entitled “The USA in Bible Prophecy” and you can click on the crawler text at the home page to hear it. Everyone, but especially Christians who claim the Bible as their Divine book, need to know this information in order to accurately understand latter-day prophecies. Unfortunately, few Christians currently realize the USA is clearly identified in Bible prophecies about the latter days.
