Digital forensics specialists report that the U.S. government has begun a cyberattack campaign against military systems and a cyber espionage network from Iran, after an American military drone was shot down by Iranian agents.
President Trump’s administration ordered the
attack on Iran in retaliation for the incident with the drone, however, shortly
after the U.S. government suspended cyberattacks and opted to impose more
economic sanctions on the Asian country. Nevertheless, specialists claim Trump
secretly authorized U.S. Cyber Command to deploy the cyberattacks.
The goal of these attacks is to disable
computer systems that control Iranian rockets, missile launchers and other
military systems, says a U.S. Army official who has requested to remain anonymous.
According to digital forensics specialists, the U.S. would have to attack the
institution known as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a unit
allegedly responsible for the attack against two oil tanks recently reported.
As a precautionary measure, Iran
has begun disconnecting some of the most critical areas of its IT systems from
the Internet; this measure began to be applied after the emergence of the
Stuxnet malware, allegedly developed by specialists from the United States and
Israel.
It is believed that hacker groups have recently
been working with the Iranian government to launch cyberattacks against
intelligence agencies in the U.S., mainly phishing campaigns. According to
digital forensics specialists from the International Institute of Cyber
Security (IICS), the campaign would have begun shortly after Donald Trump
decided to impose sanctions on Israel’s petrochemical industry. “Both
governments are desperately trying to stay one step ahead of the other”,
said John Hultquist, head of intelligence analysis at security firm FireEye.
Tension between the two countries escalated
after the U.S. abandoned an international agreement to curb Iranian nuclear
developments. Now, the Trump administration’s strategy is to impose severe economic
sanctions to cut Iran’s funds and impact its economy. The White House is
expected to announce new economic sanctions against Iran this week.
