Iranian hackers wage cyber campaign amid tensions with US

Iran has increased its offensive cyberattacks against the U.S. government and critical infrastructure as tensions have grown between the two nations, cybersecurity firms say.

In recent weeks, hackers believed to be working for the Iranian government have targeted U.S. government agencies, as well as sectors of the economy, including oil and gas, sending waves of spear-phishing emails, according to representatives of cybersecurity companies CrowdStrike and FireEye, which regularly track such activity.

It was not known if any of the hackers managed to gain access to the targeted networks with the emails, which typically mimic legitimate emails but contain malicious software.

The cyber offensive is the latest chapter in the U.S. and Iran's ongoing cyber operations targeting the other, with this recent sharp increase in attacks occurring after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the Iranian petrochemical sector this month.

Tensions have escalated since the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran last year and began a policy of "maximum pressure."
The National Security Agency would not address discuss Iranian cyber actions specifically but said in a statement to The Associated Press on Friday that "there have been serious issues with malicious Iranian cyber actions in the past."
"This is not a remote war (anymore)," said Sergio Caltagirone, vice president of threat intelligence at Dragos, Inc. "This is one where Iranians could quote unquote bring the war home to the United States."