NSA technical director: Iran-linked operations are about espionage, not destruction
Even as geopolitical tensions spike between Iran and the U.S. following an Iranian takedown of a U.S. drone, Iran-linked cyber-operations continue to focus on espionage and not necessarily destructive activities, a senior U.S. intelligence official says. David Hogue, the technical director for the National Security Agency’s Threat Operations Center, tells CyberScoop Iranian-linked hacking groups are focused on traditional intelligence gathering. “I think they’re trying to get more insights onto what U.S. policymakers are either knowledgeable of or think of them,” Hogue said in an interview with CyberScoop on Friday. The past year has enflamed geopolitical tensions between Iran and the U.S. following the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. In April, the Trump administration took the unprecedented step of declaring a branch of Iran’s military to be a terrorist organization. Just last week, the administration blamed Tehran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. The Pentagon subsequently announced increased […]
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