UK Businesses told to brace cyber defenses amid Iran conflict risk

The UK's cybersecurity agency is warning British organizations to brace for potential digital blowback as the Middle East conflict spills further into the online world.

In an alert published on Monday, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said that there's "no current significant change in the direct cyber threat from Iran to the UK," but warned that the fast-moving situation means that could change with little notice and that indirect threats are "almost certain" for organizations with links to the region.

The warning comes amid a dramatic escalation in the Middle East that has blended conventional and digital warfare. Following coordinated strikes by the United States and Israel over the weekend, internet connectivity inside Iran plunged to "close to zero," according to network monitoring groups, largely due to internal restrictions and shutdown measures. At the same time, reports emerged of cyber operations targeting Iranian state media and other ...