A series of recent denial of service attacks on US banks are being blamed on Iran. According to a report by the New York Times, “there is no doubt within the US government that Iran is behind these attacks”.
Recent months have seen PNC, Bank of America and HSBC all experience heavy DDoS attacks. The Times cites James Lewis, a former member of the State and Commerce Departments currently working for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who believes that the group that claimed credit for the attacks — “Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters” — is actually a cover for the Iranian government.
He suggests that the attacks are likely a response to the Flame and Stuxnet viruses that popped up in Iran and may — or may not! — have been funded by the US. While Lewis might be correct, he doesn’t let on exactly who believes Iran is behind these attacks, so it’s not clear what will happen as a result. Researchers analysing the bank attacks have, however, explained that they’re large and tough to pin to a single source, which hints at Iranian state backing — and that might be fuelling the speculation. One thing’s probably true though: this kind of back-and-forth will likely lead to bigger attacks over time. [NYT via Verge]
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