After the Obama administration increased sanctions on Iran in 2011 and the release of a perceived offensive video on YouTube, Iranian actors responded, launching distributed denial of service attacks against dozens of U.S. financial institutions, known as Operation Ababil. Today, relations between the two countries are further deteriorating and cyber attacks are ramping up and leaders of both countries engage in a war of words and threats.
Now, more than ever, the U.S. needs to be on guard. This escalation poses great risks to U.S. infrastructure, which could be caught in the crosshairs as Iranian actors retaliate in cyberspace. Federal agencies and critical industries such as aerospace, defense, financial services and energy need to be vigilant and take extra precautions to protect their computer networks from cyberattacks.
My researchers and I have been monitoring Iranian sponsored campaigns and recently observed an increase in activity. A group known as Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) 33, believed to be working for the Iranian government, has been stepping up its game. We have evidence that APT33 has recently targeted Saudi and American companies in engineering,…
