Cyberattack compromises multiple Syrian state accounts as regional conflict triggers significant vulnerabilities in national digital infrastructure

Syria's Ministry of Communications reports a cyberattack on 10 state accounts, including the Central Bank and Presidency, amid rising regional conflict.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 4, 2026, 4:50 AM EST

Source: The information in this article was sourced from OCCRP

Breach of sovereign and service accounts

At least 10 official Syrian government accounts were briefly hijacked on the social media platform X on Tuesday, exposing critical gaps in the state's digital security. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology confirmed that the breach targeted a wide array of sovereign and service institutions. Among the compromised profiles were the General Secretariat of the Presidency, the Syrian Central Bank, and the Ministries of Transport, Education, and Youth and Sports. The Supreme Committee for People’s Assembly Elections was also affected, raising concerns about the integrity of official communication channels during a period of heightened regional instability.

Restoration and technical response

In a formal statement issued via Facebook, the Ministry of Communications announced that it had successfully coordinated with platform administrators to regain control of the hijacked accounts. Specialists from the National Information Security Center were deployed to investigate the intrusion and mitigate further misuse. While the ministry confirmed that access had been restored, it did not specify whether the breach was limited to unauthorized social media posts or if the perpetrators had managed to gain access to sensitive internal data or administrative systems linked to these high level government entities.

Political nature of the hijacked content

The nature of the content posted during the period of compromise suggests a clear political motive behind the cyberattack. Before the accounts were recovered, several profiles carried pro-Israel messages, according to digital activity logs. This development has fueled speculation regarding the origin of the attack, occurring specifically during the third day of an escalating regional conflict involving Iran. Despite the ideological nature of the posts, the perpetrators have not yet been identified by Syrian authorities or independent digital forensics teams.