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US cyberattack reportedly knocked out Iran missile control systems

By Jon Fingas From engadget

This photo released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry on Sunday, June 9, 2019, shows the Khordad 15, a new surface-to-air missile battery at an undisclosed location in Iran. The system uses locally made missiles that resemble the HAWK missiles that the U.S. once sold to the shah and later delivered to the Islamic Republic in the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal. (Iranian Defense Ministry via AP)

The President reportedly signed off on the digital strike.

he US may have withheld a physical military response to Iran shooting down a drone, but it might not have shown similar restraint with a digital campaign. Washington Post sources say the President greenlit a long-in-the-making cyberattack that took down Iranian missile control computers on the night of June 20th. The exact impact of the Cyber Command operation isn’t clear, but it was described as “crippling” — Iran couldn’t easily recover, one tipster said.

It’s uncertain how Iran reacted to the apparent attack.

Officials have declined to comment, with Cyber Command noting that it doesn’t want to jeopardize its operations by discussing its online efforts. The report comes days after word of the US planting offensive malware in Russia’s power grid, however, and not much longer after national security advisor John Bolton said the US was “broadening the areas” where it was prepared to use cyberwarfare.

While this wasn’t an immediate response to Iran’s actions, it does show how the use of cyberattacks has become a larger part of an overall political strategy. They’re not just used to achieve long-term goals, as was the case when Stuxnet sabotaged Iran’s nuclear program. Under the elevated Cyber Command, they’re coming into play for short-term actions that could disable immediate threats and apply political pressure.

For more on this story go to; https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/22/us-cyberattack-reportedly-knocked-out-iran-missile-control-syste/

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