The United States warned its citizens against possible cyberattacks after Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, commander of al-Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, was killed in a US drone strike.
The Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Christopher Krebs, issued a warning about a potential new wave of Iranian cyber-attacks targeting US assets after the airstrike at the Baghdad airport in Iraq.
Krebs warned the public that it was “time to brush up” on Iran’s efforts to attack computer systems in the United States, even as the department’s acting secretary said that “no specific, credible threats” to the country had emerged since the general’s death.
“Given recent developments, re-upping our statement from the summer,” Krebs said in a warning on Twitter.
“CISA is aware of a recent rise in malicious cyber activity directed at United States industries and government agencies by Iranian regime actors and proxies. We will continue to work with our intelligence community and cybersecurity partners to monitor Iranian cyber activity, share information, and take steps to keep America and our allies safe,” read the statement.
The statement explained that Iranian regime proxies are increasingly using destructive attacks, looking to do much more than just steal data and money, adding that these efforts are often enabled through common tactics like spear-phishing, password spraying, and credential stuffing.
“What might start as an account compromise, where you think you might just lose data, can quickly become a situation where you’ve lost your whole network.”
CISA asked civilians to use multi-factor authentication, and immediately contact authorities in case they suspected an accident.
Meanwhile, Germany's security services have reviewed domestic and international threat levels.
The German-language ‘Welt am Sonntag’ weekly quoted a spokesperson from the Interior Ministry who said the threat situation concerned both US and Israeli establishments.
Earlier, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he had discussed the situation in the Middle East with his German and Chinese counterparts, and added that all three had agreed on the need to avoid escalation in tensions.
Le Drian said he had held a telephone conversation on Saturday with German FM Heiko Maas and senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi.
“We all noted in particular our agreement in the importance of preserving the stability and sovereignty of Iraq, and the whole of the region in general, as well as the need for Iran to avoid any new violation of the Vienna Agreement,” added Le Drian.
Similarly, UK’s Foreign Office has hardened its travel advice for Iran and Iraq after the assassination of Suleimani.
The Office warned British nationals not to travel to Iraq, except for essential travel to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and only essential travel to Iran.
The Foreign Office also said alerts for other parts of the Middle East were being increased, with calls for citizens to “remain vigilant”.
Canada also updated its travel advisory on Saturday for its citizens traveling to the Middle East.
The Canadian government's travel advisory service tweeted that it has “updated security advice for multiple destinations in the region due to an increased threat of attacks.”
Canadian authorities said there is an extreme risk to personal safety in the Middle East countries and people already there should consider leaving.
