Israel raises cyber alert, ministers urged to disable phone geolocation

Israeli ministers have been advised to disable location services on their mobile phones amid a growing cyber threat linked to Iran, according to an Israeli official and a source familiar with the situation.

CNN reported that the warning was issued in a message sent to ministers on Wednesday. In the notice, ministers and their aides were instructed to ensure that no applications or services on their devices use GPS-based location tracking. The guidance specifically mentioned services such as photo applications, Facebook and Google Maps.

According to the official, the message cautioned that Iranian intelligence services are working to determine the locations of senior Israeli leaders, raising concerns that geolocation data could be used to track their movements.

The warning comes as Israeli authorities say they have uncovered several alleged espionage cases involving Israeli citizens over the past year. Last month, an Israeli citizen was arrested on suspicion of gathering information about former defence minister Yoav Gallant, the domestic security agency Shin Bet said.

Israeli security agencies say cyber threats from Iran have intensified. In February, Shin Bet and the National Cyber Directorate said they had thwarted “hundreds” of attempts by Iranian intelligence to hack the phones of Israeli officials. In a joint statement, the agencies said they had detected a “significant increase” in Iranian efforts to compromise private Google accounts, communication applications and other digital services, particularly following the war between Israel and Iran in June.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Health Ministry said it had instructed all medical institutions to raise their level of preparedness against potential cyberattacks. According to the ministry, healthcare organisations have been directed to move to the second level of cyber readiness.

By Tamilla Hasanova