President Trump opted out of a missile strike on an Iranian facility, but the front line in this skirmish has shifted to the Cyber arena.
AP sources: US struck Iranian military computers this week:
The cyberattacks — a contingency plan developed over weeks amid escalating tensions — disabled Iranian computer systems that controlled its rocket and missile launchers, the officials said. Two of the officials said the attacks, which specifically targeted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps computer system, were provided as options after Iranian forces blew up two oil tankers earlier this month.
But there's this:
There was no immediate reaction Sunday morning in Iran to the U.S. claims. Iran has hardened and disconnected much of its infrastructure from the internet after the Stuxnet computer virus, widely believed to be a joint U.S.-Israeli creation, disrupted thousands of Iranian centrifuges in the late 2000s.
Let's hope our own systems have been hardened and disconnected from the internet, too. Because: Iranian Hackers Launch a New US-Targeted Campaign as Tensions Mount:
Analysts at two security firms, Crowdstrike and Dragos, tell WIRED that they've seen a new campaign of targeted phishing emails sent to a variety of US targets last week from a hacker group known by the names APT33, Magnallium, or Refined Kitten and widely believed to be working in the service of the Iranian government. Dragos named the Department of Energy and US national labs as some of the half-dozen targeted organizations. A third security firm, FireEye, independently confirmed that it's seen a broad Iranian phishing campaign targeting both government agencies and private sector companies in the US and Europe, without naming APT33 specifically. None of the companies had any knowledge of successful intrusions.
Finally, the Dunce of the Month award -- cyber category -- has to go to that municipal employee who downloaded ransomware at a municipal office that will ultimately cost the taxpayers of Riviera Beach, Florida, $600,000.
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11:55 AM 6/23/2019
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