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Iranian Hackers Wage Cyber Campaign Amid Tensions With US

Associated Press

   Iran has increased its offensive cyberattacks against the U.S.
   government and critical infrastructure as tensions have grown between
   the two nations, cybersecurity firms say.

   In recent weeks, hackers believed to be working for the Iranian
   government have targeted U.S. government agencies, as well as sectors
   of the economy, including oil and gas, sending waves of spear-phishing
   emails, according to representatives of cybersecurity companies
   CrowdStrike and FireEye, which regularly track such activity.

   It was not known if any of the hackers managed to gain access to the
   targeted networks with the emails, which typically mimic legitimate
   emails but contain malicious software.

   U.S. sanctions

   The cyber offensive is the latest chapter in U.S.-Iran cyber operations
   battle, with this recent sharp increase in attacks occurring after the
   Trumpadministration imposedsanctions on the Iranian petrochemical
   sector this month.

   Tensions have escalated since the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear
   deal with Iran last year and began a policy of "maximum pressure.''
   Iran has since been hit by multiple rounds of sanctions. Tensions
   spiked this past week after Iran shot down an unmanned U.S. drone,an
   incident that nearly led to a U.S. military strike against Iran on
   Thursday evening.

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