The No Good, Very Bad Week for Iran's Nation-State Hacking Ops

The No Good, Very Bad Week for Iran's Nation-State Hacking Ops
A look at the state of Iran's cyber operations as the US puts the squeeze on it with a pile of indictments and sanctions.

The US government hit the Iran state hacking machine hard earlier this month: In a 72-hour period, it unsealed three separate indictments of seven Iran-based individuals with a total of 22 charges. It also issued economic sanctions against a front technology company for Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and an Iranian nation-state hacking team of some 45 people.


It was all part of a coordinated disruption and deterrence effort by the US government against Iran's MOIS, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC), and other individuals in the country who have been targeting victims in the US and elsewhere.


Terry Wade, executive assistant director of the FBI's Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, described it as an effort to "impose consequences" on the Iranian hackers.


"No cyber actor should think they can compromise US networks, steal our intellectual property, or hold our critical infrastructure at risk without incurring risk themselves," he said in a statement after the indictments and sanctions were handed down that week.


The multiple filings by the feds the week of Sept. 14 that unmasked some of Iran's key cyber espionage actors and groups also came amid a Sept. 15 joint warning by the FBI and US Department of Homeland Security about cyberattacks out of Iran targeting US federal agencies and other organizations.


Naming and shaming by US law enforcement of suspects from nations with no extradition agreements wi ..

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