Tag Archive: Iran

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta Predicts Dire Warning of Pearl Harbor Type Cyber Attack Rivaling 9/11

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October 13, 2012

Speaking at an event in New York on October 11, 2012, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warns a future cyber attack on the U.S. could rival the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks of 2001.

Saudi Arabia’s oil company, Saudi Aramco, says its main internal network is back up after a virus affected 30,000 work stations in mid-August.

Image Source: ww2total.com

Tags: aramco, attack, cyber, Iran, Oil, panetta, pearl harbor, Saudi, terrorist

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Analyzing the Impact of Preventive Strikes Against Iran’s Nuclear Facilities by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

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September 7, 2012

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

CSIS Burke Chair Anthony Cordesman discusses rising tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.

Executive Summary

• Over the past couple of months, speculation about a U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities has made headlines around the globe. This report addresses how the U.S. could take the lead in carrying out a preventive Military Strike against Iran If all peaceful options have been exhausted and Iran has left no other means to convince it to stop or change its course in pursuing nuclear weapons . It also examines how the US could provide a defense umbrella against any Iranian air and missile retaliation that would be aimed at U.S. military targets and allies in the region, in particular the GCC states.

• A key question arises is what should the objectives of a military strike be, (.pdf)?

Tags: Anthony Cordesman, CSIS, Iran, Israel, nuclear, WW3

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After an Israeli Strike on Iran

Filed under: Future Predictions, Middle East by futurepredictions — Leave a comment

June 26, 2012

Analysis confirms that the danger of Iranian nuclear weapons far exceeds the danger of eliminating those weapons before they come into existence.

Mr. Eisenstadt and Mr. Knights expect a short phase of high-intensity Iranian response, to be followed by a “protracted low-intensity conflict that could last for months or even years” – much as already exists between Iran and Israel, (Source: Washington Times).
Image Source: europesworld.org/

Seven Possible Responses

Missile strikes on Israel
Terrorist attacks on Israeli
Attacks on Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan
Kidnapping of U.S. citizens
Clashes with the U.S. Navy
Missile or terrorist attacks on neighboring states
Closing the Strait of Hormuz

Tags: 5th, Aircraft Carrier, AMERICA, ASSAD, australia, B2, B2 Stealt, Bomber, Canada, carrier, China, eu, European, Fifth, Fleet, germany, Gulf, Iran, IRNA, Israel, Middle East, nuclear, Oil, Persian, press, PressTV, program, RT, russia, sanction, sanctions, states, stealth, Strait of Hormu, syria, Tehra, tension, tv, U.S., UK, UNION, United, us, us aircraft, US Nav, usa, War, weapon, y U.S. Navy

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Prediction: Iran and Middle East Attacked by “Flame” a Massive Computer Virus for Cyber-espionage Purposes Blogs Kaspersky’s Alexander Gostev

Filed under: Cyber Crime, Future Predictions, Identity Theft, Israel, Middle East, War by futurepredictions — 3 Comments

May 28, 2012

Researchers say they have uncovered “proof” linking the authors of the Flame cyber espionage program to Stuxnet (Source: ABCNews)

The Flame Virus maybe the most powerful and complex cyber-attack ever discovered, described by one expert, as “an industrial vacuum cleaner for sensitive information.” Flame most likely a state sponsored computer virus has probably been active for as long as five years, as part of a sophisticated cyber warfare campaign, the experts said, grabbing images of users’ computer screens, recording their instant messaging chats, remotely turning on their microphones to record their audio conversations and monitoring their keystrokes and network traffic (Source: NYTimes).

Someone has been watching and listening as “Flame” spreads.

Image: Credit

Once deployed, Flame (Worm.Win32.Flame) can sniff network traffic, take screenshots, record audio conversations, intercept a keyboard, and more, Kaspersky said. All of this data is then available via Flame’s command-and-control servers. “The practice of concealment through large amounts of code is one of the specific new features in Flame.”

Iran has thus far been hardest hit by Flame, with at least 189 infections. Israel/Palestine came in second with 98, followed by Sudan (32), Syria (30), Lebanon (18), Saudi Arabia (10), and Egypt (5).

‘Flame’ computer virus: most ‘complex’ threat ever

Gostev explained in a SecureList posting:

“Currently there are three known classes of players who develop malware and spyware: hacktivists, cybercriminals and nation states. Flame is not designed to steal money from bank accounts. It is also different from rather simple hack tools and malware used by the hacktivists,” “By excluding cybercriminals and hacktivists, we come to conclusion that it most likely belongs to the third group. In addition, the geography of the targets (certain states are in the Middle East) and also the complexity of the threat leaves no doubt about it being a nation state that sponsored the research that went into it.”