Excerpt: "On Thursday evening, U.S. Cyber Command launched a retaliatory digital strike against an Iranian spy group that supported last week's limpet mine attacks on commercial ships, according to two former intelligence officials."
Hands typing on a computer keyboard. (photo: hamburg_berlin/Shutterstock)
US Launches Cyber Attack on Iranian Targets
22 June 2019
n Thursday evening, U.S. Cyber Command launched a retaliatory digital strike against an Iranian spy group that supported last week�s limpet mine attacks on commercial ships, according to two former intelligence officials.
The group, which has ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, has over the past several years digitally tracked and targeted military and civilian ships passing through the economically important Strait of Hormuz, through which pass�17.4 million�barrels of oil per day. Those capabilities, which have advanced over time, enabled attacks on vessels in the region for several years.
Though sources declined to provide any further details of the retaliatory cyber operation, the response highlights how the Persian Gulf has become a staging ground for escalating digital � as well as conventional � conflict, with both the United States and Iran trying to get the upper hand with cyber capabilities.
The retaliatory cyber response follows several weeks of mounting tension in the region, which appeared set to boil over after last week�s attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf. U.S. officials blamed Iran for the attacks and threatened to strike back if U.S. interests in the region were harmed. Then, on Thursday, Iranians shot down a $240 million U.S. military drone.
In response, President Trump initially authorized � but then decided against � targeted military strikes on Thursday night. He said in a series of tweets Friday morning that he pulled back before any missiles were launched when he learned 150 Iranians might die.
Meanwhile, multiple private U.S. cyber intelligence firms have reported attempts by Iranian hackers in recent weeks to infiltrate American organizations. U.S. officials�told the Wall Street Journal�they fear heightened escalations not only in physical space but in cyberspace as well.
The National Security Council declined to comment on the Iranian cyber group or the U.S. Cyber Command response. The National Security Agency, U.S. Central Command and the Navy all directed Yahoo News to U.S. Cyber Command for comment. Cyber Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Heather Babb, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told Yahoo News that �as a matter of policy and for operational security, we do not discuss cyberspace operations, intelligence or planning.�
Iran�s cyber capabilities are not the most sophisticated, at least compared to the United States�, but they are getting better. Tehran�s ability to gather information and unleash offensive operations has developed significantly in the last decade or so, particularly after Iranian centrifuges at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant were struck by a malicious computer worm created by U.S. and Israeli intelligence and first revealed in 2010.
�After the Stuxnet event, Iran really cranked up its capability,� said Gary Brown, who served as the first senior legal counsel for U.S. Cyber Command and is currently a professor on cyber law at the National Defense University. Brown cited Iran�s cyberattacks on global financial institutions, Saudi Aramco and the Sands Casino. While unfamiliar with current activities, Brown told Yahoo News that Cyber Command has long been interested in Iranian cyber capabilities and �undoubtedly they�re continuing to track them.�
The Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow bodies of water separating Iran from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which is home to the U.S. Navy�s 5th Fleet, are obvious intelligence targets for Iran.
�Frankly it�s going to be standard ops for them to track who�s going in and out of the Gulf, to track all U.S. and allied warships going through, whether it�s the aircraft carriers or whatever, they�re going to track that very, very closely,� said retired Army Maj. Gen. Mark Quantock, who was Central Command�s director of intelligence from 2016 to 2017.
How Iran managed to gather that information, given its lack of traditional military resources, at least compared to the West, has been relatively creative. In recent years, according to John Hultquist, the director of intelligence for threat intelligence firm FireEye, Iranian cyberspies have targeted U.S. Navy sailors, particularly those in the 5th Fleet, to gather information.
One method those operators used was to assume false personas on social media for �honey-potting� or catfishing operations. �They use social media to look for vulnerable sailors on ships ... our Navy ships and probably other people�s navy ships too,� said James Lewis, a cyber expert at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Iranians would pretend to be attractive young women looking to connect with a �lonely seaman� to gather intelligence about ship movements, according to three former U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the operations. The attempts weren�t limited to Facebook; some of the efforts extended to Pinterest and other niche social networking sites.
There were �many� successful examples of these Iranian cyber honey-pot operations, said one former intelligence official. �They were doing it at scale.�
Naval personnel would divulge information of various levels of sensitivity � such as when and where they were traveling � while ignorant of the true identity of their interlocutors, said the former official. In addition to helping the Iranians track the movement of U.S. ships and personnel, these operations also helped them build out organizational charts of U.S. military units, the former official said.
Iran�s targeting efforts in this area became notably more sophisticated in recent years, according to the former intelligence official. Cruder past efforts � featuring profile pictures of women in bikinis, who would immediately ask U.S. military personnel for information on when they were coming to port � gave way to a subtler, more time-consuming approach. The Iranians employed pictures of attractive, but fully clothed, women who would strike up online conversations with American servicemen over weeks, developing the fictitious relationships in order to nudge them into volunteering the desired intelligence.
�There was a pretty substantial campaign going all the way up to [U.S. Navy] leadership at one point,� said Hultquist. FireEye has analyzed one Iranian group it calls Newscaster that has frequently used fake social media profiles to gather information and has been tied to at least one destructive attack, he told Yahoo News.
The Department of Justice revealed a similar Iranian intelligence-gathering method in its recent indictment against former Air Force Special Agent and counterintelligence officer Monica Witt, who defected to Iran in August 2013.
After Witt defected, Iranian officers targeted current and former U.S. government officials using �fictitious and imposter personas� created on Facebook and through email, according to the indictment. Improvements to Iran�s targeting programs over social media coincided roughly with Witt�s defection, and her insights into U.S. practices almost certainly helped catalyze some of these changes, said two former officials.
However, social media was not the only method the cyberspies used to keep track of ships in the region. For example, they would track U.S. naval movements in the region by hacking into ship-tracking websites as well, according to one former intelligence officer.
Iranian intelligence officers are also capable of hijacking digital systems used in drones, and potentially even in ships, to spoof the GPS location of the device and plug in false coordinates. �They�ve been thinking a lot about drone capture because we�ve been flying drones over them for years,� said Lewis.
In 2011, Iran claimed to have achieved this capability and said it redirected an American drone to Iran�s shores. Two former intelligence officials confirmed Iran is capable of doing this and noted that this tactic could be useful in fooling a ship�s automatic tracking system.
Iran collects intelligence on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz not just to identify their locations, but also to enable attacks, if necessary, according to multiple former intelligence officials. �If I have tactical information about when that ship is coming, I can launch a rocket attack,� said a former intelligence official.
Iran�s cyber operatives facilitated intelligence gathering used in multiple ship attacks over the past several years, including in 2017, when Houthi rebels attached bombs to remote-controlled boats targeting vessels belonging to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to multiple former intelligence officials interviewed by Yahoo News.
For Iran, projecting strength into the Strait and keeping a close eye on maritime targets is of utmost importance.
�It doesn�t entirely surprise [me] to find out that there�s yet another way in which Iran is trying to find ways to flex its muscles, in particular regarding shipping in the Gulf,� said Matthew Levitt, director of the counterterrorism program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
�Iran is trying to respond to the U.S. maximum pressure campaign, in particular, now that still tougher measures have been taken to constrict the amount of oil Iran is able to ship and the amount of money it can get for it.�
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And/or a general strike!
Some people may be familiar with that term but unable to explain just what it means!
It is, in principle, a mass revolutionary act intended to shut down the country - nominally until certain massive grievances are remedied, preferably with the resignation of the whole government.
To my knowledge, a successful general strike has never occurred (though France came close in 1968).
In the US, there numerous attempts in the late 19th century, but no revolution occurred.
Apart from a 5-day strike in Seattle in Feb., 1919, the only thing close in 20th-century North America happened in Canada (also in 1919). Called the "Winnipeg General Strike" (because it started in Winnipeg, Manitoba) it won some support across the Canadian west, in Ontario and in Montreal.
It was, however, not well enough organized (although the strike committee did take over the government of the City of Winnipeg) and not well enough supported to win.
Today, trade unions are at their weakest point since before the Great Depression. In the US, I doubt if 10% of the labor force is organized. And, without the workers, there's not much of a strike.
A general strike is a tactic familiar to both anarchists and socialists (with predictable differences of intent and method).
Prime writers? Probably Georges Sorel & Rosa Luxemburg. And, of course, there were America's beloved "Wobblies" - the Industrial Workers of the World, still active after all these years!
True enough. Until we recognize our power is our labor and refusal to purchase goods we will not win. The following is from IWW organizer Joseph Ettor:
"If the workers of the world want to win all they have to do is recognize their own solidarity. They have nothing to do but fold their arms and the world will stop. The workers are more powerful with their hands in their pockets than all the property of capitalists..."
It takes great organization and without unions I am not sure we can achieve a general strike but that is what it will take. Half of America went with trump and I can't help but wonder when and if they will figure out what is happening. I don't hold out much hope without solidarity.
I started my own strike the day he was elected. If I don't need something to absolutely survive, I don't buy it. Remember the Boston bombing and the lockdown that followed. The shelter in place was lifted, not when the culprits were caught, but when the people in power realized a couple of days without spending cost business over $300,000,000.
Need I remind anyone George W Bush told people to go out and shop after 911. Use the money you save to hit 'em twice by paying off debt. Resist anyway you can.
The Trump Presidency is brought to you by the dishonesty of Hillary Clinton and the DNC!
We could have had Bernie!
Go on, you phoney, call your local FBI office...no, no, not to turn yourself in!
to explain all the real and true proof you have AGAINST the woman you love to hate, (but never met) HRC. You're not just lying again, are you?
Do you hate OTHER WOMEN TOO?
Go on, call the FBI. They're on YOUR side, you know. Go ahead, turn ME in if you want. They used to know ME pretty good in the local office.
Add to that Republicans have never been "soft" on crime; and with penal colonies being one of the two largest growth industries in the U.S.(the other being the police, security & surveillance industry), Republicans can support their business buddies with more privatized prisons.
Never forget, fighting crime, administering justice and operating prisons are big, profitable businesses in the U.S. So the more laws you make, the more laws get broken and the more people you can prosecute and imprison and the more profit there is for the criminal-justic e industry.
And as we all wince with horror at what will be happening please NEVER forget...
The Trump Presidency is brought to you by the dishonesty of Hillary Clinton and the DNC!
We could have had Bernie!
Amen!!
Yes, if only arithmetic could be suspended to allow Sen Sanders to accept the nomination with 4 million fewer votes than Sec'y Clinton. And the appeal of a Socialist Jew would have stilled the Republican smear machine. This frantic insistence that HRC voters actually voted for Trump is dishonest, delusional, or both. Lose the fairy dust and find some place to oppose Mr Trump.
But trying to use Bernie's unsuccessful campaign to insult Hillary Clinton insults Bernie more than it does the intended object of scorn.
The primaries are over , and so is the 2016 presidential election. It's time to start living in the present -- maybe by persuading Senator Sanders to give it another try in 2020.
We're IN one of THOSE...you know, when you go to a strange door because your car broke down in the rain with you and your girlfriend, and a hunchback named Sessions opens the door and wants you to step inside...bwahah a...
Now he gets to make so many of us hurt more than we wanted or needed to.
Let's just keep on keeping track of who and what class of people he improves the lives of...a few years after somebody unnecessarily dies in those families, the ugly ones may wake up. They won't get any smarter, but they might have learned more...