14 DAY TRIAL // After naming Iran as being responsible for the cyberattacks against Saudi Aramco and RasGas, and the distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks against financial institutions, US officials have come forward with another series of accusations.
Unnamed current and former officials have told The Wall Street Journal that Iran is sponsoring infiltration and surveillance campaigns aimed at the systems of US energy companies.
No targets have been named, but officials reveal that the recent attacks against oil, gas and power companies could have serious effects because the hackers are targeting critical infrastructure control systems.
These systems can be utilized to control key functions, regulate the flow of oil, gas and electricity, and even turn systems on and off.
The officials who made the accusations have not detailed Iran’s involvement in the attacks. However, they claim to possess “technical evidence” that links Iran to the malicious campaigns.
The growing number of cyberattacks attributed to Iran might determine the US to retaliate, the officials said.
“This is representative of stepped-up cyber activity by the Iranian regime. The more they do this, the more our concerns grow. What they have done so far has certainly been noticed, and they should be cautious,” one official noted.
On the other hand, as expected, Iran is denying these latest accusations.