FBI charges Iranian hackers, recommends action to prevent further attacks

The FBI yesterday charged three Iranian nationals with allegedly orchestrating a scheme to hack into the computer networks of multiple U.S. victims, including an attempted but thwarted attack last year against Boston Children’s Hospital. U.S. and international cyber authorities also released an advisory highlighting continued cyber and ransomware threats to critical infrastructure organizations by actors affiliated with the Iranian government, and recommended actions to protect against these threats.

“The FBI’s indictment of these hackers based in Iran and sheltered by the Iranian government demonstrate that U.S. hospitals and health systems continue to be targeted by sophisticated foreign actors supported by hostile nation states, which challenge and strain our cyber defenses,” said John Riggi, AHA’s national advisor for cybersecurity and risk. “Clearly, this national security threat requires a whole of nation and allied nation coordinated approach, including working closely with our hospitals and health systems on defensive measures and disruptive offensive operations. We are pleased to see that’s exactly what happened in this situation, with the important disruption by the FBI of an attack by this group targeting a U.S. children’s hospital. The indictment and the release of this important advisory, which contains a large volume of actionable intelligence and technical malware signatures, can help our network defenders prevent future attacks.”