U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies have issued a joint advisory warning of potential cyber-attacks from Iranian state-sponsored or affiliated threat actors.
“Over the past several months, there has been increasing activity from hacktivists and Iranian government-affiliated actors, which is expected to escalate due to recent events,” the agencies said.
“These cyber actors often exploit targets of opportunity based on the use of unpatched or outdated software with known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures or the use of default or common passwords on internet-connected accounts and devices.”
There is currently no evidence of a coordinated campaign of malicious cyber activity in the U.S. that can be attributed to Iran, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3), and the National Security Agency (NSA) noted.
Emphasizing the need for “increased vigilance,” the agencies singled out Defense Industrial Base (DIB) companies, specifically those with ties to Israeli research and defense firms, as being at an elevated risk. U.S. and Israeli entities may also be exposed to distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and ransomware campaigns, they added.
Attackers often start with reconnaissance tools like Shodan to find vulnerable internet-facing devices, especially in industrial control system (ICS) environments. Once inside, they can exploit weak segmentation or misconfigured firewalls to move laterally across networks. Iranian groups have previously used remote access tools (RATs), keyloggers, and even legitimate admin utilities like PsExec or Mimikatz to escalate access—all while evading basic endpoint defenses.
Based on prior campaigns, attacks mounted by Iranian threat actors leverage techniques like automated password guessing, password hash cracking, and default manufacturer passwords to gain access to internet-exposed devices. They have also been found to employ system engineering and diagnostic tools to breach operational technology (OT) networks.
The development comes days after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a bulletin, urging U.S. organizations to be on the lookout for possible “low-level cyber attacks” by pro-Iranian hacktivists amid the ongoing geopolitical tensions between Iran and Israel.
Last week, Check Point revealed that the Iranian nation-state hacking group tracked as APT35 targeted journalists, high-profile cyber security experts, and computer science professors in Israel as part of a spear-phishing campaign designed to capture their Google account credentials using bogus Gmail login pages or Google Meet invitations.
As mitigations, organizations are advised to follow the below steps –
- Identify and disconnect OT and ICS assets from the public internet
- Ensure devices and accounts are protected with strong, unique passwords, replace weak or default passwords, and enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Implement phishing-resistant MFA for accessing OT networks from any other network
- Ensure systems are running the latest software patches to protect against known security vulnerabilities
- Monitor user access logs for remote access to the OT network
- Establish OT processes that prevent unauthorized changes, loss of view, or loss of control
- Adopt full system and data backups to facilitate recovery
For organizations wondering where to start, a practical approach is to first review your external attack surface—what systems are exposed, which ports are open, and whether any outdated services are still running. Tools like CISA’s Cyber Hygiene program or open-source scanners such as Nmap can help identify risks before attackers do. Aligning your defenses with the MITRE ATT&CK framework also makes it easier to prioritize protections based on real-world tactics used by threat actors.
“Despite a declared ceasefire and ongoing negotiations towards a permanent solution, Iranian-affiliated cyber actors and hacktivist groups may still conduct malicious cyber activity,” the agencies said.
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