Security News > 2020 > January > Iranian Cyberattacks Feared After Killing of Top General
Iran's retaliation for the United States' targeted killing of its top general is likely to include cyberattacks, security experts warned Friday.
A top U.S. cybersecurity official is warning businesses and government agencies to be extra vigilant.
In 2012 and 2013, in response to U.S. sanctions, Iranian state-backed hackers carried out a series of disruptive denial-of-service attacks that knocked offline the websites of major U.S. banks including Bank of America as well as the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. Two years later, they wiped servers at the Sands Casino in Las Vegas, crippling hotel and gambling operations.
It's not known whether Iranian cyberagents have planted destructive payloads in U.S. infrastructure that could now be triggered.
The only known cybersecurity survey of U.S. local governments, county and municipal, found that the networks of 28% were being attacked at least hourly - and that nearly the same percentage said they didn't even know how frequently they were being attacked.