and technology-reliant on Earth probably

and that makes us very vulnerable

to adversaries who are seeking to disrupt us.

- [Cardinale] Adversaries like China,

North Korea, Russia, and, of course, Iran.

As the Iran Nuclear Agreement quickly unravels,

security experts say they've seen an uptick

in Iranian cyber attacks

specifically targeting the United States.

And the questions that experts are asking are

what new tactics do hackers have up their sleeves?

Will they use more ransomware to hold data hostage

or cyber-spying and espionage to access secret information?

And, more importantly,

is the U.S. actually prepared to defend itself?

Because the more technologically-reliant

the United States becomes,

the more vulnerable it is to disruption.

Just look at the top two industries

that experts say suffer the most significant cyber attacks.

It's finance and high tech.

- What's so interesting about cyber

is it's a very accessible capability

and we're seeing Iran is one of those countries

that is actually using third parties in-country,

probably contractors, to develop their own capabilities.

And they've been doing that really since Stuxnet incident,

when they decided to really ramp up their program.

- [Cardinale] Stuxnet, the most sophisticated

infrastructure hack to date

and the most aggressive attack

attributed to the U.S. and Israel

against Iran's Natanz Uraniaum Enrichment Facility.

Stuxnet damaged some 1,000 centrifuges,

infected 30,000 computers,

and brought the entire operation to a grinding halt.

- There's this been fear that more and more actors

will be able to do something similar,

which is move in through this cyber realm

and cause a kind of physical consequence.

- [Cardinale] When Iran downed a U.S. drone

near the Strait of Hormuz in 2019,

the U.S. launched a cyber attack

that wiped an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps database.

Without that data, Iran lost a major asset

that would help in their attacks on tankers

in the Persian Gulf.

According to experts, Iran has used cyber attacks

as an economic weapon in response to economic sanctions,

simply because the U.S. isn't likely

to try and defend itself through physical retribution.

- Point that our nation needs a comprehensive strategy

to deal with all areas, all areas, of Iran's aggression.

- Iran has absolutely been disruptive in the past

targeting American interests.

They engaged in relatively low-sophisticated attacks

several years ago,

targeting financial institutions with DDoS attacks,

essentially spam traffic being sent to their websites

in a way that intermittently took those sites down

so consumers in the U.S. were not able

to access their bank accounts.

Even a few minutes of those websites being down

or those services being inaccessible

can really impact the, not just national,

but global economy.

- [Cardinale] Ironically, one of the best defenses

to these sophisticated hacks is to have an analog backup

in case something goes haywire,

like having paper ballots that can be counted

to give people assurances

that their democracy is based off of real results.

- The most important thing that businesses can do

and individuals can do is make sure

that their security posture is as upgraded as possible.

This is the simple, routine, and boring art

of updating your iPhone,

updating your Windows operating system.

- [Cardinale] Wall Street Journal reporting found

that without regular cyber maintenance,

the U.S. is essentially a sitting duck

to unique attacks from hostile groups.

In 2016, a destructive virus called Shamoon 2

was reportedly executed by the Iranians.

It hit several organizations, mostly in Saudi Arabia.

That included Sadara, a joint venture between Dow Chemical

and Saudi Arabian oil.

According to experts,

Shamoon 2 wiped enormous amounts of data

and even prevented computers from turning back on.

That was evidence that the Iranians

could not only execute sophisticated attacks,

but were also willing to invest in custom attacks.

And what's more custom and nearly impossible to fight

than a propaganda attack?

According to Citizen Lab,

the Iranian information operation Endless Mayfly

created deceptive imitations of publications,

like Bloomberg and the Harvard Belfer Center,

as well as entirely fake personas.

The challenge here is it's almost impossible

for the U.S. to defend against these new

and increasingly popular attacks.

For now, the government's best bet

may be to work with social media publications

to try and take down what's recognized as propaganda

and hope that it's caused simply minimal damage.

- A term you'll hear a lot of experts use

when they're talking about cyber attacks

is asymmetrical warfare and this is the concept

that countries that lack traditional military might

make up for it through use of technology

and through the use of cyber attacks,

and Iran is certainly in that camp.

For Iran, this is the great equalizer.

This is their way of sending a message loud and clear

that we are here and we are upset with these sanctions,

we are upset with the U.S. foreign policy,

and we're going to make you hurt for it.