Iran vows retaliation for cyber attacks from US

THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT has vowed to reciprocate over any cyber attacks launched against the country's computer systems and networks, according to a high-ranking military official.

The Ahlul Bayt news agency reports that a warning was launched by Brigadier General Ali Shadmani, the head of the Operations Department of the Iranian Armed Forces, who said that mounting any cyber attack against Iran would be a risk for US, UK and Israel.

Shadmani also believes that US and its allies are responsible for creating and financing terrorist organizations that fight against his country.

These threats of retaliation are mostly propagandistic in nature, but there is reason for concern given the overall poor state of cyber security at government agencies and contractors.

If Chinese hackers are capable of breaking into systems that hold sensitive information by using basic social engineering attacks and rudimentary remote administration tools, then more talented individuals, like the person who broke into Comodo and Diginotar, could certainly do more damage.

This is actually a likely scenario since the Comodo hacker, who is believed to be Iranian and a strong supporter of his country's government, has already threatened to launch attacks against US, EU and Israel.

These might not be as sophisticated as Stuxnet, which is believed to have been created by the US and Israel with the purpose of setting back Iran's nuclear programme, but could lead to significant security breaches.

This being said, it's not clear how Iran would determine who is responsible for an attack. What if US intelligence agencies attack the country's systems through compromised Chinese hosts? Or what if it's the other way around? Might the Tehran government claim that all cyber attacks against its networks are the work of the US and its allies?

Back in June the Iranian Armed Forces announced plans to launch a cyber command, but experts don't believe the country has a lot of resources, human or otherwise, in this area yet.

"Beyond this one very gifted hacker, I don't see a lot of expertise in Iran 'reciprocating' to cyber attacks. Should we worry? I don't think so. One very good hacker can only teach so much and I don't believe there is a cyber weapon suite available that is truly effective. At least not in Iran," said Joel Harding, an information operations and cyber warfare advisor for the US defence industry.

Source: THE INQUIRE