America on Edge as Iran Infiltration Fears Spark Turmoil

The United States financial industry has stepped up readiness for potential cyber attacks following Washington’s decision to go to war with Iran. The airstrike announced by U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran then responded to the aggression, with Israel using missiles and drones targeting assets owned by the U.S. in Arab states. The outbreak of war has heightened concerns in the United States about cyber attacks by Iran on U.S. infrastructure, including banking operations. “We are continuing to monitor developments with a focus on operational resilience, which underpins the integrity and stability of the U.S. capital markets,” said Todd Klessman of SIFMA. According to U.S. intelligence assessments cited by Reuters, hackers linked to Iran could carry out low-level cyber attacks on U.S. networks. An example of a low-level cyber attack is a DDoS attack, which floods servers until they are overwhelmed and go offline. According to a report from the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), the financial sector has been the main target of DDoS attacks throughout 2024. The attacks, among others, have been carried out by activist hackers amid the Hamas-Israel and Russia-Ukraine wars. In addition to DDoS, another feared attack is ransomware—data held hostage with ransom demands. In 2023, a ransomware attack targeting an ICBC-owned broker unit disrupted trading in the U.S. bond market.