Israel Becomes World's Top Target for Geopolitical DDoS Attacks

Israel was the primary target for politically motivated distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks globally in the first half of 2026, according to a new report by Israeli cybersecurity firm Radware. The country accounted for 16.9% of all such attacks worldwide, with hackers claiming 784 DDoS attacks against Israeli organizations during the period. This figure more than doubles that of Ukraine, which ranked second with 390 attacks, followed by the United States with 359 and the United Kingdom with 285.

Radware noted a strong correlation between hacker activity and geopolitical events. Following a significant escalation of conflict with Iran in March, global DDoS attack claims surged by 103% to 1,308 in that month. Approximately 60 hacking groups, including those linked to Iran, anti-Western, and pro-Russian factions, participated in campaigns targeting Israel, the U.S., and Persian Gulf states.

The pro-Russian group NoName057(16) remained the most active, responsible for 40.5% of all claimed DDoS attacks recorded by Radware. Government entities were the most frequent targets, facing 37.2% of the claimed attacks.

Overall, Radware's report highlights a dramatic increase in DDoS threats, with attacks on web applications rising by 110.6% in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period in the previous year. The company emphasized that its statistics are based on public claims by hacking groups and its monitoring system data, and do not confirm that every claimed attack successfully disrupted its target.