Bay Area technology experts comment on possibility of cyberattacks following U.S. strikes on Iran

CBS News

24-06-2025

A day after President Trump announced the U.S. struck nuclear facilities in Iran, the Department of Homeland Security warned about the potential for low-level cybersecurity attacks.
And even though the US has announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, Paul Keener, a strategist for a cyber consulting firm called GuidePoint Security headquartered in Virginia, said the potential attackers don't even have to be Iranian.
"That is one of Iran's typical methods, because they use hacktivist groups. And so, the hacktivist groups are people who are ideologically aligned," said Keener. "And so, it creates the appearance of something bigger and more responsive than it might actually be. And so, yeah, is it likely that this will happen? I think so. If they can focus and do that, I would anticipate that."
Prof. Ahmed Banafa is a technology expert at San Jose State. He said Iran has engaged in cyber attacks in the past and usually focuses on the kind of infrastructure that can disrupt everyday life.
"The war, including what we are seeing here, is actually not just only in the skies or the battlefield itself. It's also on the server rooms and the algorithms and the data centers and the R and D of the companies," Banafa told CBS News Bay Area. "That's going to be more effective than anything else because it creates a lot of damage to a country."
"You know, companies like PG&E for example, so they can paralyze the grid," he said. "Number two, they can go after the financial companies, like Stripe and PayPal, which is going to create a lot of panic if people are using those systems. They can go after the research that we have seen, R and D, in many of those companies, especially with artificial intelligence now. Silicon Valley is leading the world there."
And it doesn't take sophisticated weaponry to do that. Just having someone open the wrong email or click on the wrong link can allow a hacker to infiltrate a system and potentially bring an operation to a halt.
The Department of Homeland Security issued an alert on Sunday saying, "Low-level cyber-attacks against US networks by pro-Iranian hacktivists are likely, and cyber actors affiliated with the Iranian government may conduct attacks against US networks."
Stanford professor Allen Weiner said he thinks some fears may be overblown. The former State Department attorney specializes in international conflict resolution, and he said he thinks Iran is more concerned about keeping its own people under control, especially now that Hezbollah has been crippled and Assad's regime in Syria has collapsed.
"And so, what that means now," said Weiner, "is that a lot of the allies that Iran had that would have been in a position to put pressure on Israel have been dramatically weakened, leaving Iran itself very exposed."
He said Iran's rulers are generally unpopular with the Iranian people, so much of the regime's actions are designed to show strength as a way of keeping their own people in line, and that even before the announced ceasefire, Iran's retaliation had been largely for show.
Weiner said, though they could threaten cyber attacks, he believes they may be looking for a way out of the conflict.
"I think the Iranians have been signaling that they want to de-escalate," he said, "realizing that they're completely outmatched militarily by the Israelis. And the minute you add the United States to the mix, I think they recognize that a shooting war will go very badly for them."