Iran's cyberwar has begun

Iranian hackers have launched spying expeditions, digital probes, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in the wake of the US and Israel launching missile strikes over the weekend, and security researchers urge organizations to expect more cyber intrusions as the war continues. Most of the cyber activity so far has …

[Anonymous Coward]

I know they have to say that ...

"Organizations should ensure all critical systems are fully patched and use this moment to reinforce security awareness training with staff."

... and it's "never too late" and all, but if you haven't yet put in place security awareness, patching, monitoring, response, continuity and recovery mechanisms, and countering-disinformation strategies, then you're kind of asking for it. These are not things done overnight. Hackers tend not to give you a heads up even at the best of times.

At least it ought to raise awareness amongst corporate and government leaders, perhaps even in time for the main feature, China, when that eventually kicks off ... 2027?, 2028?, 2029? ...

(Sorry for the A/C but other commentards have been getting a bit feral recently.)

[teknopaul]

Re: I know they have to say that ...

Every one need to prepare for the inevitable higtech terrorist reponses, when the US starts carpet bombing civilians.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I know they have to say that ...

At least the PHBs have heard of this threat scenario. That's more than can be said for most run-of-the-mill vulnerabilities.

If that spurs action? Great.

[chivo243]

Re: I know they have to say that ...

reinforce security awareness training with staff? Just getting security awareness across to the staff is 90% of the job, if you haven't already done that, it's a long dreary trip.

[amanfromMars 1]

Acts of Frustration are a Sign Recognising the Lack of Both Common Sense and Intelligence ‽

(Sorry for the A/C but other commentards have been getting a bit feral recently.) ..... Anonymous Coward

The Earth is not short of such mad dog lunatic types in empty vessels baying at the moon, A/C, but they offer nothing of value or worth to be truly worried about or fear.

[David Newall]

Re: Acts of Frustration are a Sign Recognising the Lack of Both Common Sense and Intelligence ‽

That's remarkably erudite and succinct. Who are you and what did you do with the real amanfromMars?

[teknopaul]

Re: Acts of Frustration are a Sign Recognising the Lack of Both Common Sense and Intelligence ‽

You kill a mother's children for oil, she has every right to dedicate her life to you destruction.

And so does dad, grandpa and grandma.

I can imagine its pretty "frustrating" to have your children killed, but there is no lack of "sense" it doing whatever the fsck you need to as a response.

[Pete 2]

Achilles heel

> digital attacks against American organizations are inevitable

Fifty five years ago, Gerald M. Weinberg write If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.

Arguably since the scope, number of dependencies and sheer amount of software in sensitive and vital uses, has multiplied enormously since 1971, that observation is even more relevant today.

The only real question is whether the baddies have a big enough woodpecker?

[amanfromMars 1]

Re: Achilles heels and riddles wrapped in mysteries inside enigmas.

The only real question is whether the baddies have a big enough woodpecker? .... Pete 2

Whenever the goodies most certainly do have a big enough woodpecker to destroy civilisations the only real question to answer is it actually baddies in charge of leading those civilisations ...... for nothing is ever as simple or as complex as it seems and is reported to be, is it.

[tmTM]

Do us all a favour

Send a tomahawk or two to sort them out

[cd]

The planning has been going on for a while. VZW has been cutting off connections if the device uses Rethink or DNS66, the level varies (prob with stingray operator) but it's clear that DNS is going to be an ongoing issue.

Fisher-Price networking kits.

[Anonymous Coward]

Jessica Lyons And The Last Five Minutes!

Headline: "Iran's cyberwar has begun"

Huh? Jessica fails to mention "Fort Meade's Cyberwar"......stretching back to Snowden and before!

I wonder sometimes about the VERY LIMITED WORLD VIEW adopted by journalists!

Sigh!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Jessica Lyons And The Last Five Minutes!

She meant Iran's cyberwar, what she neglected to do was read any of the related El Reg articles over the last decade or so about Iran's offensive forays.

[arachnoid2]

All countries do it

Be it friend or foe all dabble in touching and caressing each others software to the point of infiltration, its a human need.