Iran has marked several major American technology companies in the Middle East as potential targets for attack in retaliation for the ongoing strikes by the United States and Israel on its territory, according to a report by CBS News.
The news agency Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, published a list of major American technology companies in a social media post recently. The list included Amazon, Microsoft, Palantir Technologies, and Oracle, alongside the caption: “The enemy’s technological infrastructure: Iran’s new targets in the region.”
Iranian drone strikes have already hit data centers in the region and Amazon facilities in multiple countries.
The list published by Tasnim was accompanied by a warning that “as the regional dimensions of the conflict expand to include infrastructure, cyber warfare, and scope, Iran’s legitimate targets are gradually expanding.”
The companies mentioned operate offices, research and development centers, data centers, and cloud infrastructure throughout the Middle East, including in the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Bahrain.
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told CBS that “the United States has been prepared for operations for some time, and we are aware of all possible Iranian targets.”
“As it appears, the Iranian terrorist regime is under significant pressure. The United States is completing its objectives - Iranian ballistic missile attacks have dropped by 90 percent and drone strikes have fallen by 83 percent,” she added.
Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud platform, reported that Iranian drone strikes affected several of its facilities in the region, causing damage to some of its infrastructure.
“These impacts caused structural damage, disrupted the electricity supply to our infrastructure, and in some cases required firefighting operations that caused additional water damage. We are working closely with local authorities and prioritizing the safety of our staff throughout our recovery efforts,” the company said in a statement.
The American medical technology giant Stryker acknowledged that it had been affected by a cyberattack that caused a “temporary global network disruption in a Microsoft environment.”
The company stated that it has “no indication of malware or ransomware and we believe the situation is limited to Microsoft’s internal environment.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that the logo of the Iran-linked hacker group “Handala” appeared on Stryker’s login pages.
Cyber analyst Brian Krebs said in a blog post that the hacker group claimed responsibility for the attack in social media posts that were later removed from Telegram. “Our main cyber operation was carried out with complete success,” the group said in a post cited by Krebs.
Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the United States Department of Homeland Security, told CBS Mornings that the group’s ties to Iran are “blurred.”
“All of their groups, whether directly tied to the military, intelligence, or their proxies - activists, supporters, whatever you want to call them - they all target objectives,” Krebs said.
The cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks notes in its profile of “Handala” that the group is directly linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and carries out “cyber operations against the Israeli political and security establishment.”
CBS News reported that tech giants Amazon, Google, Snap Inc., and Nvidia are among the many American companies that have implemented emergency protocols to protect the safety of thousands of employees across the Middle East.