Intelligence firms watch for uptick in Iran cyber activity after US, Israel strikes

Tehran-linked hackers are stepping up digital reconnaissance and preparing for potentially disruptive cyber activity following recent U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, cyber intelligence firms warn.

The coordinated strikes and escalating tensions across the broader Middle East are setting the stage for a renewed phase of Iranian cyber operations, including espionage and possible attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure, they say.

CrowdStrike has “not observed large-scale state-sponsored cyber campaigns” but is seeing “a surge in claimed activity from Iran-aligned and sympathetic hacktivist groups, including assertions of disruptive actions such as [denial-of-service] operations, defacements and alleged interference across targets in the Middle East, the United States and parts of Asia,” said Adam Meyers, the firm’s head of counter adversary operations. 

Denial-of-service attacks seek to overwhelm a website with artificial traffic and knock it offline.

At this point, much of the publicized hacks are claim-driven, but critical infrastructure and financial ...