“U.S. officials have been eager to publicly blame Iran for some of the most damaging cyber attacks in the United States in recent memory. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said that Iran was responsible for an attack on the Sands casino company in 2014, in which intruders stole and destroyed data from the company’s computers. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in February, Clapper put that attack in the same category as North Korea’s assault on Sony, which prompted retaliatory cyber strikes from the United States, as well as a new round of sanctions on individuals and companies in the Hermit Kingdom.
‘One of the options on the table of the U.S. and its allies is a cyber war against Iran. But we are fully prepared to fight cyber warfare,’ said Iran’s Gen. Mohammad Aqakishi.
The bank attacks and the Sands operation amounted amounted to a show of force by Iran, which only a few years ago had merely aspired to build a world-class offensive cyber force. U.S. officials and experts have been alarmed by the speed with which Iran built up its offensive cyber capabilities and then used them.”