The title above comes from Andy Greenberg’s January 3, 2020 article he posted to the technology and security publication, WIRED.com. For Mr. Greenberg’s full article, I refer you to WIRED.com. As is well known, Iran has a very sophisticated and diverse offensive cyber capability; and, one way Tehran could strike back at the U.S. for the Soleimani hit is via the cyber domain. As Mr, Greenberg notes, Iran “has spent years building their cyber capability to execute not only the mass-destruction of computers, but potentially more advanced — albeit far less likely — attacks on Western critical infrasrtructure, like power grids and water systems.”
“Cyber is certainly an option, and it’s a likely one for Iran,” said Airane Tabatabai, a political scientist at the Rand think tank who focuses on Iran. “Tabatabai points to the asymmetric nature of a conflict between Iran and the U.S. military,” Mr. Greenberg wrote. Iran cannot directly confront the U.S. militarily in any significant, consequential way, thus Tehran is most likely to srike back at the U.S. in an unconventional/asymmetric way such as cyber, and/or through their proxies in Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere. Israel is also a likely target.
“The most likely form of cyber attack to expect from Iran will be one it has launched repeatedly against its neighbors in recent years: so-called wiper malware designed to destroy as many computers as possible inside target networs,” Mr. Greenberg wrote. “Iran has used wipers like Shamoon and Stone Drill, to inflict waves of disruption across countries in the Middle East, starting with an attack in 2012 that destroyed 30,000 Saudi Aramco computers. Adn, in 2014, Iranian hackers hit the Las Vegas Sands Corporation with a wiper, after owner Sheldon Adelson suggested a U.S. nuclear sttrke against Iran.”
“From what we know to date of their [cyber] capabilities, their still [primarily] really focused on IT-targeted wipers,” said Joe Slowik, an analyst at industrial cyber security firm Dragos, who formerly led the Computer and Security Incident Response Team at the U.S. Department of Energy.
But. Tehran will have to carefully weigh any type of retaliarory actions. POTUS Trump’s decision to eliminate Soleimani was a major strategic blow to the Iranian Mullahs. If Iran were to strike back with any consequential cyber attack, the U.S. response does not, and may well — not be confined to responding in kind. Additional U.S kinetic attackls and drone strikes could occur. As Gen. (Ret.) Petreaus has said in recent days, POTUS Trump’s decision to eliminate Soleimani, who wss such a revered figured among the Mullahs, could well serve as a deterrent against further mavolent Iranian behavior and actions. And, as has been noted in other publications, POTUS Trump’s decision to take out Soleimani will not be lost on North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un. RCP, fortunascorner.com
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