Cyber war heating up between Iran, US

The United States and Iran are battling online in an increasingly intense cyber war that is taking place against the backdrop of high-level talks on Iran’s nuclear program.

An internal National Security Agency document revealed new details of the conflict, including the acknowledgment that U.S-led cyber attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities were the catalyst for the online war.

{mosads}Starting in 2012, the United States and Britain began working together to defend against Iranian cyberattacks, including offensives launched against U.S. banks. The cyberattacks had overwhelmed the websites of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase with traffic, preventing users from accessing their accounts.

Iran had never been officially confirmed as being behind those attacks, according to The New York Times, which covered the NSA document in a story on Sunday. The document also stated that Iran was behind a cyberattack on Saudi Aramco, the oil company, in 2012.

The NSA memo was originally published by The Intercept this month, and revealed the degree to which Iran might have gained knowledge of cyber warfare after becoming the target of repeated hacks, presumably by the United States.

The document illustrates the day-to-day warfare that is taking place online between the United States and Iran, even as Secretary of State John Kerry works to negotiate an agreement with Tehran to accept limits on its nuclear program.

The talks resumed Monday in Geneva, as parties seek to meet a March 31 deadline for a preliminary deal.