Bank Hacks: Iran Blame Game Intensifies

Wells Fargo official says scale of the attacks was pretty significant. Is this the face of cyberwar?

Whos behind the continuing series of attacks against the websites of numerous U.S. banks? A flurry of news reports Friday pointed the finger squarely at Iran.
They have been going after everyone--financial services, Wall Street, a senior defense official, speaking anonymously,
told

The Wall Street Journal
. Is there a cyberwar going on? It depends on how you define war.
Earlier this month, the
distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks
used by the banking website attackers successfully disrupted the operations of leading Wall Street financial institutions, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, as well as other firms. Last week, the
attacks expanded
to include Capital One, SunTrust, and Regions Financial.
Despite an advance warning by attackers, all of the targeted banks websites still suffered disruptions. As that suggests, and as Wells Fargo CFO Tim Sloan
confirmed to Reuters
Friday, the scale of the DDoS attack launched against his bank was pretty significant, although he noted--as have other officials at banks whose websites were disrupted--that no customer data had been compromised by attackers.
[ For more on the recent spate of U.S. bank attacks, see
U.S. Bank Hacks Expand, Regions Financial Hit
. ]
I dont want to minimize the potential damage it could cause to the industry, said Sloan. But in terms of how the industry performed and how Wells Fargo performed in reaction to the recent efforts, we actually performed very well. Some customers, however, have criticized the affected banks for
not restoring their websites
in a timely manner.
A self-described hacktivist group, the
Cyber fighters of Izz ad-din Al qassam
, has taken credit for the attacks, and has also released statements denying that its behind wire-transfer attacks that have been launched against U.S. banks over the past year. The group said the DDoS attacks are meant to protest the release of a clip from the Innocence of Muslims film that mocks the founder of Islam.
But information security experts have been
finding inaccuracies
in the Cyber fighters of Izz ad-din Al Qassams statements, as well as evidence that the group is better organized than it has stated. Meanwhile, U.S. government officials have been stepping up their public accusations that the Iranian government has been directly sponsoring the attacks.
Likewise, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has blamed Iran for the attacks. I think this was done by Iran and the Quds Force, which has its own developing cyber attack capability, Lieberman recently told C-SPAN,
reported

The Washington Post
. The Quds Force is a special unit of the Revolutionary Guard, which is a branch of Irans military.
But speaking anonymously, U.S. officials recently said that theyve traced the attacks to a group of fewer than 100 Iranian information security specialists--based at Iranian universities and technology companies--who they say have been the actual hackers behind the bank attacks. The officials said that the evidence that conclusively links the Iranians to the attacks is classified, but said the
scale and effectiveness of the DDoS attacks
reinforced that the hackers had substantial backing. These are not ordinary Iranians, a senior U.S. official told
The Wall Street Journal
.
Iranian officials have
denied hacking any U.S. banks
. But earlier this year, Iranian government officials announced the creation of a military cyber corps to help the country better defend itself against online attacks such as
Stuxnet
.
In February 2012, at an Iranian conference devoted to addressing perceived online threats against the country, Brig. Gen. Gholam-Reza Jalali, who heads the Passive Defense Organization of Iran (PDOI),
reportedly told attendees
that Iran has begun to operate its first cyber army. Likewise, in an interview earlier this year, according to
news reports
, Jalali said that Iran had created a cyber command, noting that creating the cyber defense strategy is now on our agenda.
The important point is that we develop mechanisms for cyber defense in a way that we will be able to defend the country against new viruses, he said.
The U.S. government hasnt
directly taken credit for creating Stuxnet
, Flame, or other espionage malware that was used against Iranian systems. But according to David Sangers book
Confront and Conceal: Obamas Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power
, published earlier this year, White House officials--speaking off the record--said that the malware had been developed as part of a classified program code-named Olympic Games.
Organizations challenged by meeting the requirements of multiple regulatory mandates are increasingly looking at the alignment of governance, risk, and compliance under a unified framework, GRC.In our report,
A Security Pros Guide To GRC
, we examine where the security professionals figure into the mix and recommend the steps organizations should take to align IT GRC with existing security programs and processes. (Free registration required.)

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Bank Hacks: Iran Blame Game Intensifies