NEW: Saudis warn of new destructive cyberattack that experts tie to Iran by JennaMC_Laugh
Saudi authorities detected a new destructive cyberattack suspected of coming from Iran on Dec. 29, the same day the U.S. military struck targets controlled by Iranian-backed proxies in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed an American contractor the previous Friday.
The Dustman malware, and other prior attacks, reveal the extent of the low-level, sometimes destructive cyber warfare that Iran has waged in the Middle East for some time, and provides clues as to the tactics and capabilities Iran might deploy in the future. “The real question is whether or not they will shift this activity to the United States,” Hultquist said.
It’s unclear how long the malware has been active, said one cybersecurity researcher who requested anonymity to discuss preliminary research. The researcher, who is studying the malware, suggested it may have been active as early as March. The attack, according to the Saudi researchers, had some similarities with the “Shamoon” malware, an infamous virus linked to Iran in 2012 that was deployed and “bricked” — or wiped out — 30,000 work-stations at Saudi state oil company Saudi Aramco.
Iranian hackers, at least after a damaging cyberattack on Iran’s centrifuges at Natanz enrichment facility linked back to the U.S. and Israel uncovered in 2010, have developed their destructive “wiper” style attacks. Over the summer, the Department of Homeland Security’s top cyber official, Chris Krebs, warned of a “recent rise in malicious cyber activity directed at United States Industries and government agencies by Iranian regime actors and proxies” including through wiper attacks.
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