While pundits debate the diplomatic and nuclear proliferation implications of President Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the Iran agreement, the change in tactics will likely impact cybersecurity.
“With the dissolution of the agreement, we anticipate that Iranian cyberattacks will once again threaten Western critical infrastructure,” John Hultquist, director of intelligence analysis at FireEye.
Noting that “Iranian actors remain among the most aggressive we track, carrying out destructive and disruptive attacks in addition to stealthier acts of cyber espionage,” Hultquist explained that “prior to the nuclear agreement, Iranian actors carried out several attacks against the West” and that there were clear signs they “were probing Western critical infrastructure in multiple industries for future attack.”
The efforts, he explained, “did not entirely disappear with the agreement, but they did refocus on Iran's neighbors in the Middle East.”
