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Iran Cyberattacks: Are We Prepared for a New Threat?
Jun 29, 2025
We discuss Iran's potential cyberattacks with Retired Air Force Lieutenant General Charles Moore. We cover past attacks, current risks, and the US's preparedness for cyber threats. We offer insights on the fragile ceasefire and the strategic landscape. #IranCyberAttacks #Cybersecurity #USNationalSecurity #CyberWarfare #Geopolitics #CharlesMoore #CriticalInfrastructure #IranUSRelations #DigitalDefense #NewsAnalysis
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0:00
The backdrop of all of this is the
0:02
ceasefire right between Israel and Iran.
0:04
As we said earlier, it might have seemed
0:06
shaky, but it's holding. It's holding.
0:08
Now, that said, concerns do remain that
0:10
Iran could turn to cyber attacks against
0:13
the US, targeting critical
0:15
infrastructure, raising the obvious
0:17
question, are we prepared? Retired Air
0:19
Force Lieutenant General Charles Moore
0:20
joining us now, former deputy commander
0:22
of US Cyber uh Command. Uh, welcome,
0:25
General. Are we prepared for what Iran
0:28
might throw our way if that's the
0:29
direction they choose to go? Hey
0:32
Connell, thanks for having me. Well, I
0:34
think first you have to take a step back
0:35
and realize that from historical
0:36
perspective, Iran has shown the ability
0:39
to come after critical infrastructure
0:41
targets, power companies, water utility
0:44
companies, and even financial companies
0:46
in the past. In fact, they've been able
0:48
to attack some of those same type of
0:50
targets in in Israel as well. But I
0:54
think the real question is uh are they
0:57
willing to do that under the current
0:58
circumstances. So in the past they've
1:01
had the capability and the willingness
1:02
but right now as you've indicated
1:04
several times this is a very fragile
1:08
ceasefire. And of course that sets the
1:10
stage for a hopeful hope hopeful end to
1:12
all of the war that's been going on. And
1:15
I think the last thing that the Iranians
1:17
want to do right now is disrupt that. To
1:19
your point uh right here we'll put it up
1:21
on the screen. I'm looking at the cyber
1:23
attacks of the United States from
1:25
November of 23 to April of 24 and
1:28
they're all over the place and you know
1:30
there's all kinds of different attacks
1:32
there starting in the West in
1:34
California, Montana, Texas, so on and so
1:36
forth. So the the point is this stuff
1:38
happens all the time. What's the
1:39
difference you know between you know
1:42
cyber attack that happens and one we
1:44
hear about? I mean how how serious does
1:45
it have to be because many of those you
1:47
know we didn't really hear about at
1:49
scale. Yeah, Connell, this is a really
1:51
good point. So on on a day-to-day basis,
1:55
really persistently, the United States
1:58
is in conflict in the cyber domain with
2:00
adversaries and malicious cyber actors
2:02
from around the globe. The vast vast
2:04
majority of the time, those operations
2:07
that are being conducted against us are
2:09
happening below the level of use of
2:12
force or what we would consider an act
2:14
of war. And this has really become the
2:17
standard operating environment inside
2:18
the cyber domain. So anytime someone
2:21
goes above that threshold or takes some
2:24
type of action that may result in a loss
2:26
of life or significant economic impact,
2:29
those types of things, that's when the
2:31
United States is most likely going to up
2:33
the ante and potentially escalate not
2:35
just inside cyerspace but potentially in
2:37
the physical environment as well. Where
2:39
is that line? Is it defined?
2:42
It's not clearly defined. And some of
2:43
that ambiguity is purposeful. But again,
2:46
most nations at this point over time and
2:49
through a lot of dialogue, a lot of
2:52
diplomacy, and even through the just the
2:54
execution of these operations, the line
2:57
has really been drawn at loss of life,
3:00
significant economic impact, some type
3:03
of uh attack that might take the ability
3:05
for a nation to defend itself. Those
3:08
types of operations are tend to be uh
3:11
frowned upon. And obviously if you go
3:12
after critical infrastructure and you
3:15
take those type of uh facilities away
3:17
and their ability to deliver for the
3:19
American people that starts to get close
3:21
to that red line. And specifically on
3:23
Iran, does does Iran um traditionally
3:26
operate as a state actor here or as they
3:29
do in other theaters, do they kind of
3:31
farm it out to to proxies and the like?
3:34
How does Iran work in cyber?
3:36
Yeah, Connell, they like to do both.
3:38
Okay. Sometimes we'll see them directly
3:40
operate with their cyber operators. A
3:43
lot of times, just like they'd like to
3:44
do from a terrorist action standpoint,
3:47
they'll farm that activity out to
3:49
proxies and folks that hopefully uh can
3:52
help them maintain some type of
3:53
separation and deniability about the
3:57
operation. The only problem for Iran is
4:00
that there's nobody on the planet that's
4:02
better than determining attribution than
4:04
the National Security Agency and US
4:06
Cyber Command. So that's why it sounds
4:08
like your assessment now it would be
4:09
very very risky for Iran to do this.
4:11
They might be more likely to do it in
4:12
another time than now.
4:15
Connell, that's exactly what I think. I
4:16
think right now they're very happy to
4:19
have the United States not conducting
4:20
any type of offensive operations whether
4:23
it's in the physical environment or the
4:24
cyber environment against the regime. I
4:26
think the the regime understands that
4:28
they're in a very precarious situation
4:30
and they want to keep the United States
4:32
on the sidelines and really only in
4:34
aiding in the defense of Israel, which
4:36
of course we've been doing since the
4:37
beginning of this conflict. Right. Thank
4:39
you for watching. Subscribe below and
4:41
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4:43
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4:45
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