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To protect themselves against phage infection, bacteria employ diverse defense systems that are typically activated specifically upon infection. However, the mechanisms of activation and self versus non-self discrimination for most systems remain poorly understood. Here, we show that the bacterial immunity protein DARNA, once activated, cleaves a subset of host tRNAs, thereby inhibiting phage propagation. Although phages escape DARNA-mediated defense through mutations in the gene encoding single-stranded DNA-binding protein (SSB), we find that phage SSBs do not directly stimulate DARNA. Instead, DARNA is activated by single-stranded DNA presented by phage SSB, but not by the host SSB. The recognition of an endogenous nucleic acid signal promoted by a viral protein ensures that DARNA can detect and respond to a broad range of viruses while avoiding auto-immunity.