Iran likely to respond to US sanctions with cyberattacks

Iran is likely to retaliate with cyber attacks on Western businesses after the US president Donald Trump announced new sanctions on the Islamic republic and withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, according to online security experts.

Internet security firm Recorded Future analysed previous Iranian reactions to economic pressure and said it was likely that business in the US, Europe and allies are at risk of cyberattacks in the coming months.

According to their research, businesses most likely to be at greatest risk are those that were previously hit by Iranian cyberattacks between 2012 and 2014. These include banks and financial services, government departments, critical infrastructure providers, and oil and energy.

Also, testimonies from former hackers in Iran said there were more than 50 estimated contractors waiting in the wings for Iranian government-sponsored offensive cyber projects. Only the best individuals or teams succeed, are paid, and remain in business. This pits financially driven contractors against each other for the influence of the Iranian government.

Levi Gundert, an Iran-focused analyst at private intelligence firm Recorded Future said that Iranian hackers did not attack Western businesses thanks to the nuclear deal: "They’ve developed this ability over the last years and there’s no reason for them not to use it now. They want to try to induce other countries to think about repercussions before levying sanctions, and they have a real capability in the cyber domain."

Another security firm, FireEye, is also warning businesses of possible Iranian hackers backed by Tehran.

John Hultquist, director of FireEye told ZDNet: “Iran has already been probing Western critical infrastructure in multiple industries for future attack."

"These efforts did not entirely disappear with the agreement, but they did refocus on Iran's neighbors in the Middle East. With the dissolution of the agreement, we anticipate that Iranian cyberattacks will once again threaten Western critical infrastructure.”