Cyberattacks on Israeli organizations surge before Knesset election

The Times of Israel reported on 26 October 2026, the day before the Knesset election, findings by Check Point Software Technologies: in the first weeks of October, Israeli organizations faced an average of 2,700 cyberattacks a week, 55% more than in the same period a year earlier. Attacks on government bodies rose 82%, and attempts against energy and infrastructure rose 107% to 3,900 a week.

According to the report, several hacker groups were preparing denial-of-service attacks to take major Israeli sites down on election day, plans Check Point found discussed on the dark web; the targets cited were the Prime Minister's Office, the Knesset, the Israel Police, the Foreign Ministry and the Bank of Israel. A phishing campaign posing as a Voter Information Service sent text messages and emails asking voters to verify their personal details, and more than 1,200 election-related websites were registered in two months, about one in 47 of them suspected of being malicious.

Sivan Dror of Check Point urged organizations to harden official websites and accounts and to prepare for rapid incident response, and the public to rely only on official election channels.

Why it matters Elections compress threats into a few predictable days. Denial-of-service plans discussed on the dark web and look-alike sites registered weeks ahead are visible before the attack, which makes election periods a case where watching those discussions and new domains gives defenders lead time.