How nuclear deal has cooled Iran-US cyberwar
Once-threatening cyberattacks between the United States and Iran appear to have slowed since the countries reached a nuclear pact.
Sitting in a brightly lit apartment in Brooklyn, an American hacker who asked Al-Monitor to call him Alex scribbled down a dizzying array of cyberstrikes between the United States/Israel and Iran since 2010. The page was fast being covered in Alex’s rushed handwriting, and his eyes glimmered with excitement.
“They’ve gotten incredibly sophisticated,” he said as he marveled at the speed at which Iranian hackers have been able to create a defensive and offensive arm against Western cyberattacks. Yet, as he neared 2015 on his ad hoc timeline, his pen began to slow.
“With the Iran [nuclear] deal, we saw a parallel cooling down of attacks in the cyberworld. The nuclear deal has not only opened discussion with the Iranians on nuclear issues, but it has created a mutual detente in the cyberworld, and that’s huge, because cyberwarfare between Iran and the West was getting to really bad levels.”
David, an Iranian-American internet security specialist who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, agreed. He said, “Before the Iran deal, we were witnessing a heightened level of cyberwarfare between Iran and the US/Israel. It was getting to a very [worrisome] level, as Iran’s capabilities had increased exponentially in a very short period of time. But the Iran deal has put a halt to all of this.” David's employer is one of the leading US firms that monitor Iranian cyberactivity.
