Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 07 February 2024

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

NYPD reports 31 antisemitic incidents in January as surge continues four months after Oct. 7

The NYPD reported “31 antisemitic hate crimes in January,” continuing the trend of increased incidents since the October 7^th invasion of Israel. “Since the start of October, there have been 193 antisemitic incidents reported to police, nearly double the 100 incidents reported during the same four-month period last year.”

Analyst Comments:

Recent incidents include violence against Jewish residents, threats of violence against Jewish residents, “threats against synagogues and graffiti against elected officials and art galleries.” As these threats range beyond Jewish individuals, members are encouraged to maintain heightened awareness, especially if their organization is connected with or perceived to be connected with the Jewish community, due to location or other factors.

As both Jewish and Muslim communities have been increasingly targeted with hate speech and violence since the start of the Israel/Hamas war, members are encouraged to look beyond their front doors to help ensure more security in their neighborhoods. The New York Post has reported that a New York City doorman is being hailed as a hero after he stepped up to help a young woman who was chased down by two robbers and pushed against a wall over the weekend in a brazen, broad-daylight attack.

Iran accelerates cyber ops against Israel from chaotic start

Since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, Iranian government-aligned actors have launched a series of cyberattacks and influence operations (IO) intended to help the Hamas cause and weaken Israel and its political allies and business partners. Many of Iran’s immediate operations after October 7 were hasty and chaotic – indicating it had little or no coordination with Hamas – but it nevertheless has achieved growing success.

Analyst Comments:

Key findings of Microsoft’s report include:

• A 42% increase in traffic, in the first week of the war, to news sites run by or affiliated to the Iranian state. Even three weeks later, this traffic was still 28% above pre-war levels.
• Despite early Iranian claims, many “attacks” in the early days of the war were either “leaking” old material, using pre-existing access to networks or were false.
• Iran’s activity quickly grew from nine Microsoft-tracked groups active in Israel during the first week of the war to 14, two weeks into the war. Cyber-enabled influence operations went from roughly one operation every other month in 2021 to 11 in October 2023 alone.
• As the war progressed, Iranian actors expanded their geographic scope to include attacks on Albania, Bahrain and the USA. They also increased their collaboration, enabling greater specialization and effectiveness.