Sunday June 23, 2019

I've Been Thinking:

USCC is the United States Cyber Command.

The USCC launched a retaliatory strike against Iran this weekend.
This has been a very busy week, cyber speaking. The big news was that Iran attacked US interests, striking tankers in The Sea of Oman. Lesser known news is that Iranian cyber teams were also kept busy attacking many other interests in the region and beyond.

In addition to the United States, Iranians attacked Saudi, Bahraini, UAE and other US computer systems.

In response to the tanker attacks, probably exacerbated by tensions resulting from the computer systems attacks -- or maybe the opposite -- The USCC launched a barrage of attacks against the Iranians.
It's important to note that Iran's cyber aggression team is directly connected to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard.

Many questions have been left unanswered. It is not clear if this USCC cyber response is the response President Trump was referring to when he referred to striking Iran or if there is more of a response to come. It is also not clear who was hit by the US and how large the attack was. And we do not know if the US hit the Guard's naval force, the military body that has been wreaking havoc in the region.

What is clear is that a cyber attack can be far more destructive than any missile strike.

We learned that lesson from the Stuxnet cyber virus attack against Iran. Stuxnet and follow-up cyber strikes were enormously effective. Effective cyber attacks can set Iran back by months, even years.
The down side is that with each US-led attack, Iran improves its cyber defense capabilities.

Read my latest book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah

To reprint my essays contact sales (at) www.featurewell.com