{"id":24192,"date":"2020-01-18T01:02:21","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T01:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/18\/top-dhs-cyber-official-says-iran-wouldve-hit-back-in-cyberspace-by-now\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:15:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:15:59","slug":"top-dhs-cyber-official-says-iran-wouldve-hit-back-in-cyberspace-by-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/it-networks\/2020\/01\/18\/top-dhs-cyber-official-says-iran-wouldve-hit-back-in-cyberspace-by-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Top DHS cyber official discusses when Iran may retaliate in cyberspace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>UPDATE: This story and headline was updated Jan. 18 to include a clarification from Chris Krebs on Twitter.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The top cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security said that if Iranian cyber actors were to attack the United States in retaliation for a drone strike that killed an Iranian general Jan. 2, it would have already happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He later clarified that he was discussing an immediate attack, which would depend on if Iran had pre-existing access to U.S. networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an interview with the National Security Law podcast released Jan. 16, Bobby Chesney, associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Texas law school, asked Chris Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, how concerned people should be about a cyber response and if anything was different with this cyber threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe truth here is that if the Iranians were going to do something, they would probably \u2014 it was already too late,&#8221; Krebs said in response. \u201cIf they were going to do something cyber \u2014 cybery \u2014 they would probably already be in a position and take the shot. We saw that they really didn\u2019t.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because of the abrupt timing of the strike, the Iranians \u201cdidn\u2019t have time to strategically position against energy or natural gas,&#8221; Krebs said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Krebs later clarified his remarks on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLet me jump in, my point in the podcast was that immediate cyber retaliation would likely depend on existing access, in part, as you said, new access takes time,&#8221; Krebs <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CISAKrebs\/status\/1218671599882207233?s=20\" target=_blank>said in a tweet Jan. 18<\/a>. \u201cDidn\u2019t say Cyber was off the table longer term, that\u2019s why the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DHSgov\">@DHSgov<\/a> [National Terrorism Advisory System] Iran bulletin remains in place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Krebs\u2019 comments come about two weeks after the United States killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani. In congressional testimony and interviews with Fifth Domain, experts said to expect a delayed response from Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIran could achieve strategic surprise in cyberspace, and we would not know it until they hit us,\u201d said Tom Warrick, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said in prepared remarks at a House Homeland Security hearing Jan. 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey will include cyberspace operations as a key component of their asymmetric response to the killing of Soleimani,\u201d Vincent Stewart, the former deputy commander of Cyber Command, said at the same hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another reason Iran may not have immediately responded is that cyberattacks take time to prepare, Jon Bateman, a former senior expert on Iranian cyber forces at the Defense Intelligence Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCyberoperations sometimes can take time to develop and that all depends on the intent of the operation and how well it matches up with your pre-existing contingency planning,\u201d Bateman said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The top cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security said that if Iranian cyber actors were to attack the United States in retaliation for a drone strike that killed an Iranian general Jan. 2, it would have already happened. He later clarified his comments and said Iran would&#8217;ve retaliated by now if it had existing access to U.S. networks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":37496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":14,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,31,110,14,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3242],"class_list":["post-24192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-it-cloud-report","category-it-networks","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"UDSTLYROORG3DPO26OXXP3QFJ4","arc_canonical_url":"\/civilian\/dhs\/2020\/01\/18\/top-dhs-cyber-official-says-iran-wouldve-hit-back-in-cyberspace-by-now\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Top DHS cyber official discusses when Iran may retaliate in cyberspace - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The top cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security said that if Iranian cyber actors were to attack the United States in retaliation for a drone strike that killed an Iranian general Jan. 2, it would have already happened. 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