There is currently a heightened risk of cyber-attacks from hackers affiliated with the Iranian government. The Iranian government has vowed to retaliate against the United States for the death of Qassem Soleimani. Given Iranian capabilities and history, U.S. entities should prepare for the possibility of cyber-attacks.
It is particularly concerning that Iran has a history of launching cyber-attacks against the U.S., and the financial services industry. For instance, in 2012 and 2013, Iranian-sponsored hackers launched denial of service attacks against several major U.S. banks. And the U.S. government recently advised in June 2019 it observed “recent rise in malicious cyber activity directed at United States industries and government agencies by Iranian regime actors and proxies,” and that Iranian attackers were increasingly using highly destructive attacks that delete or encrypt data.
BMIT therefore strongly recommends that all regulated entities heighten their vigilance against cyber-attacks. While currently there are no specific, credible, reports of new Iranian-sponsored cyber-attacks in the past few days, all regulated entities should be prepared to respond quickly to any suspected cyber incidents. Iranian-sponsored hackers have historically relied primarily on common hacking tactics such as email phishing, credential stuffing, password spraying, and targeting unpatched devices.
BMIT therefore recommends that all regulated entities ensure that all vulnerabilities are patched/remediated (especially publicly disclosed vulnerabilities), ensure that employees are adequately trained to deal with phishing attacks, fully implement multi-factor authentication, review and update disaster recovery plans, and respond quickly to further alerts from the government or other reliable sources. It is particularly important to make sure that any alerts or incidents are responded to promptly even outside of regular business hours – Iranian hackers are
known to prefer attacking over the weekends and at night precisely because they know that weekday staff may not be available to respond immediately.
Any questions or comments regarding this alert should be directed to [email protected]
