Iran must be held accountable for cyberattacks
Iran must be held accountable for cyberattacks
Iran’s expansionist policies have attracted significant attention from some media outlets, politicians and scholars. The regime’s military adventurism in the region has been mainly carried out by the senior cadre of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), its elite branch the Quds Force and Tehran’s proxies, militias and terrors groups across the Middle East.
However, Iran’s cyberwarfare program and its direct and indirect implications on global security and other national interests have received less media and scholarly attention.
The cyberwarfare program, initiated in 2012, is run by the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, which was formed by an order from Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. The council, which devises and forms policies regarding cyber activities, has become an indispensable pillar of the IRGC and Iran’s foreign policies.
The latest developments reveal that the Islamic Republic’s cyber capacity has considerably advanced since the council’s establishment. In fact, Iran is the fourth-largest “cyber power” in the world, according to an IRGC official. Even major Israeli think tanks have acknowledged the Islamic Republic as a major player. For example, the Institute for National Security Studies stated: “The IRGC clearly makes the country one of the best and most advanced nations when it comes to cyberwarfare. In a case of escalation between Iran and the West, Iran will likely aim to launch a cyberattack against critical infrastructures in the US and its allies, including energy infrastructure, financial institutions, transportation systems, and others.”
But, instead of employing such advances to lead technological breakthroughs and improve the lives of its citizens, the regime has been exploiting the program to launch cyberattacks and carry out cyberespionage in an attempt to inflict damage on other countries’ financial, security and political infrastructures.
Read more: Arab News
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