(NEW YORK) — Iranian-affiliated cyber actors and hacktivist groups “may still conduct malicious cyber activity,” according to a joint bulletin from U.S. law enforcement agencies.
“Based on the current geopolitical environment, Iranian-affiliated cyber actors may target U.S. devices and networks for near-term cyber operations,” the bulletin from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), FBI, NSA and Defense Department says.
“Defense Industrial Base (DIB) companies, particularly those possessing holdings or relationships with Israeli research and defense firms, are at increased risk. Hacktivists and Iranian-government-affiliated actors routinely target poorly secured U.S. networks and internet-connected devices for disruptive cyberattacks,” according to the bulletin.
All of this comes after Israel and Iran “declared ceasefire and ongoing negotiations towards a permanent solution,” according to the alert.
“Over the past several months, Iranian-aligned hacktivists have increasingly conducted website defacements and leaks of sensitive information exfiltrated from victims,” the alert says. “These hacktivists are likely to significantly increase distributed denial of service (DDoS) campaigns against U.S. and Israeli websites due to recent events.”
The alert says that it hasn’t just been over the past few months that Iranian cyber actors have been active. The agencies point to numerous instances in 2023 and 2024 when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compromised Israeli-backed technology, and after the start of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, IRGC-backed actors carried out cyber attacks as a form of protest.
“Activities like website defacements, leakage of sensitive information, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) campaigns against U.S. websites have been common attack methods in the past,” the alert says.
In a statement, the agencies say they haven’t seen any malicious activity, but are issuing the warning for critical infrastructure organizations to be on alert.
“We strongly urge organizations to review our joint fact sheet and implement recommended actions to strengthen our collective defense against this potential cyber activity,” the statement says.
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