Iran’s Boosted Cyber Capabilities

In a hearing of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on “Iran’s Support for Terrorism Worldwide,” former chairman of the House’s Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence gave a statement that included the “increasing sophistication of Iran’s cyber program and capability to conduct cyber warfare.” The testimony on last Tuesday followed reports in February on Iranian hackers, who penetrated the Navy Marine Corps intranet over an extended period of time in 2013.

Building on a Foreign Policy report of February 18th, Former Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) elaborated on the Iranian regime’s awareness of U.S. vulnerabilities and its ambitions to be at eye level with its “enemies” in cyber. Correspondingly, he claimed that “[t]he very nature of cyber warfare and Iran’s increasing capability should be of major concern of the United States.”

The former chairman further discussed Iran’s ties with Russia, mentioning suspicions that Russia supports the development of Iranian cyber capabilities. He concluded his statement, which also covered Iran’s “global reach” through international terror networks, with the following finding:

Iran will view cyber warfare, a closer relationship with Russia, and the possibility of closer cooperation with other Islamist terror groups as potential opportunities to radically change the national security equation for the U.S. and our allies.

Hoekstra’s concluding remarks give a concise account of his assessment of Iran’s relevance to U.S. national security. The reason I quoted it directly is because, as for the cyber part, it exemplifies how Iran reportedly exploits the asymmetric nature of cyberspace. The list of previous cyber attacks, including hacks of U.S. financial institutions and the mentioned Navy network penetration, gives a taste of the possibilities for conventionally, i.e. “symmetrically” inferior adversaries to change the balance of power in their favor.

Regardless of Russia’s suspected involvement and the assumed ties of Iran with international terrorism, I think the developments in cyberspace are worth some of the attention that beforehand was exclusively directed at the nuclear issue.