Following the recent U.S. military attack on Iran, hackers close to Tehran targeted American banks, defense contractors, and oil companies, without causing significant disruption to critical infrastructure or the economy.
However, according to several insiders, the situation could become much more tense if the ceasefire between Tehran and neighboring Israel collapses, or if independent hacker groups supporting Iran keep their promises to launch their own digital war against the U.S.
Two pro-Palestinian hacker groups claimed to have targeted more than a dozen aviation companies, banks, and oil companies following the U.S. attacks over the weekend. According to researchers at the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors the groups’ activity, the hackers described their work in detail in a post on Telegram and called on other “colleagues” to follow their example.
Federal authorities say they are on alert for further attempts by hackers to penetrate U.S. networks. In some cases, these groups have links to military or intelligence agencies. In other cases, they act completely independently.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a public bulletin Sunday warning of increased Iranian cyber threats. At the same time, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a statement Tuesday urging organizations that operate critical infrastructure like water systems, pipelines or power plants to stay vigilant.
Calls to strengthen U.S. digital defense come after the Trump administration decided to cut some cybersecurity programs as part of its effort to reduce the size and spending of the government.
In the opinion of some experts, U.S. military actions could even prompt Iran, Russia, China and North Korea to double their investments in cyber warfare. As explained by technology entrepreneur Arnie Bellini, hacking operations are much cheaper than bullets, planes or nuclear weapons. America, then, may be militarily dominant, but its dependence on digital technology is certainly a weakness.
Although Iran does not have the cyberwarfare capabilities of China or Russia, it has repeatedly tried to use its forces to spy on foreign leaders, an action that national security experts say Tehran will almost certainly carry out again in an effort to uncover Donald Trump’s next moves. Already last year federal authorities charged three Iranian agents with attempting to hack the MAGA leader’s presidential campaign.
