Editor’s Note: Tanya Goudsouzian is a Canadian journalist who has covered Afghanistan and the Middle East for over two decades. She has held senior editorial roles at major international media outlets, including serving as Opinion Editor at Al Jazeera English.
Ibrahim Al-Marashi is an Associate Professor at California State University San Marcos and a board member of the International Security and Conflict Resolution program at San Diego State University. He teaches courses on innovation and AI at IE University School of Science and Technology in Spain. He is the co-author of Iraq’s Armed Forces: An Analytical History (2008), The Modern History of Iraq (2016), and A Concise History of the Middle East (2025).
By Barbara Slavin, Distinguished Fellow, Middle East Perspectives Project
Whatever the outcome of Iraq’s November 11 parliamentary elections, the next government must address the threat of cybercrimes that threaten Iraq’s post-conflict recovery and could inflame both domestic and regional conflict.
From the 2019 defacing of more than 30 government websites to a surge in blackmail and extortion campaigns targeting women and youth on social media, cybercrime in Iraq is rapidly expanding to include attacks aimed at governments and critical institutions.
In September, a blog monitoring the dark web reported that a threat actor claimed to possess the personal records of over 30 million Iraqi citizens, describing the breach as a victory in the “cyber war” against the Iraqi government. If true, the data leak would represent one of the largest digital compromises in history, laying bare the country’s fragile cyber defenses.
“The first line of defense always starts with education and Iraq is rapidly digitizing, but people’s online habits and understanding don’t necessarily keep up with that,” Asoz Rashid, CEO of iQ Group, one of Iraq’s largest technology and telecommunications conglomerates, told the authors.
While international frameworks like the UN Convention Against Cybercrime offer tools for cooperation, the more pressing challenges lie in Iraq’s need to recognize and address cybercrime as a major security challenge.
No longer limited to scams or online fraud, cybercrime in Iraq poses a direct threat to commerce, critical infrastructure, and political institutions.
Iraq is one of the world’s largest possessors of crude oil and natural gas, yet its hydrocarbons infrastructure is vulnerable to cyber disruption. Electricity grids, alongside health and communications infrastructure, also often rely on outdated digital architecture. A successful cyberattack could paralyze essential services and disrupt public life, perhaps even inflaming sectarian tensions. Iraq’s cyber vulnerabilities are rooted in legacy systems, underfunded IT governance, underdeveloped legal protections, and the worldwide phenomenon of digital illiteracy.
The September 2024 cyber-triggered explosions in Lebanon, which killed 21 people and injured thousands, raised alarm among Iraqi cybersecurity experts who warned of similar vulnerabilities in Iraq, particularly involving mobile and wireless devices. These warnings have fueled calls for urgent action to defend against emerging threats linked to electronic warfare and malicious signal manipulation.
This same environment highlights the urgent need for greater cyber awareness across society, as terrorist and extremist groups exploit digital platforms for propaganda and psychological manipulation, using misinformation to erode public trust and social stability.
Moreover, Iraq’s compromised digital infrastructure has reportedly been used as a launchpad for cyberattacks against other nations, raising alarm among international cybersecurity analysts.
While the recent UN Cybercrime Convention signing in Hanoi represents an important multilateral effort to combat cyber threats, the bigger story for Iraq lies in the need to build domestic awareness and capacity. Cybercriminals routinely exploit legal gaps between jurisdictions to evade prosecution, especially in countries like Iraq with nascent enforcement capabilities. By strengthening laws and institutions, Iraq can shrink safe havens for cybercriminals and gain new leverage in international partnerships. But Iraq’s own political will and civil society activism, particularly voices from the burgeoning technology sector, must lead the way in pushing this issue to the forefront of the national security agenda.
“Mega projects like the Silk Route Transit, which digitally connects Europe and Asia, and a growing online economy not only cement Iraq’s strategic digital importance but also paint a bullseye in terms of cyberattacks,” Rashid said. The Silk Route project bypasses the congested Red Sea bottleneck at the vulnerable confluence of the Mediterranean Sea and Suez Canal.
Encouragingly, Iraq has already laid some important groundwork. The first national incident-response team was created in 2017, followed by the drafting of policy frameworks in 2020. In December 2022, the Ministry of Interior approved Iraq’s first national cybersecurity strategy, paving the way for the establishment of a Cybersecurity Center. In 2025, the center became a Cybersecurity Directorate, headed by Brigadier General Dr Hassan Hadi Lazeez, who described the move as “a strategic response to the shifting digital threat landscape.”
Building on this foundation, Iraq should fast-track ratification of comprehensive legal reform, aligning domestic laws with evolving cybercrime challenges. Imperatives include clear legal definitions of cyber offenses, setting up specialized forensic labs, and training judges, prosecutors and digital crime units.
Ministries must coordinate, and public awareness campaigns should promote digital hygiene and online safety. Iraq should also build strategic partnerships, especially with regional cyber leaders and international organizations, to negotiate bilateral agreements for training, intelligence sharing, and infrastructure support. Finally, Iraq must present its challenges transparently and propose collaborative solutions, such as a regional cyber capacity hub.
While international frameworks offer a powerful foundation, Iraq must be clear-eyed about the risks of overpromising and underdelivering. One major concern is the gap between commitments and actual implementation, a risk magnified by Iraq’s limited institutional capacity and complex political landscape. Resistance may come from within: competing agencies, outdated bureaucracies, or actors benefiting from legal ambiguity may stall reform.
Concerns Over Civil Liberties
In parallel, civil liberties concerns could arise if cybersecurity enforcement is perceived as a tool for surveillance rather than protection, especially in a society where trust in institutions remains fragile. As one researcher for the Danish Institute for International Studies wrote, “in the Iraqi context, while surveillance may provide valuable intelligence, it may at the same time jeopardize ongoing efforts to restore trust and build sustainable relationships between state and society.”
Additionally, overreliance on foreign expertise could deepen dependence, unless local capacity is prioritized.
To help mitigate these challenges, Iraq should pursue a phased, transparent approach: piloting programs before scaling, embedding cyber capacity-building at the core of institutional reform, and creating oversight mechanisms to ensure that new powers are not abused. Initiatives like CT TECH+ — a UN Office of Counter-Terrorism and INTERPOL program focused on strengthening law enforcement capacities and countering the misuse of emerging technologies for terrorism — offers a model for how international cooperation can align with human rights and the rule of law.
The last time the U.S. withdrew from Iraq in 2011, ISIS emerged as a threat. Now the threat is digital terrorism and cybercrime. American interests would be best served if the United States left Iraq with a strong digital defense.
Done carefully, this path can turn international cooperation into a lasting national capability and move Iraq from cyber vulnerability to digital sovereignty.
The threats facing Iraq’s digital space are evolving and increasingly entangled with the country’s broader security and governance challenges. To mitigate these threats, Iraq must not approach cybercrime as a secondary challenge or an extension of traditional security issues. It must confront the threat head-on, leveraging both domestic innovation and international cooperation, potentially positioning itself as a global example of modern cyber security. Anything less would be a missed opportunity in a domain where delay carries dire national consequences.
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