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by buzzwords 1377 days ago
Are Iranian hackers an actual threat? Or is threat being overstated for propaganda? It's a genuine question, please don't start a flame war.
7 comments

Ransomware is an actual threat. The fact that it can originate in Iran doesn't necessarily mean that it is more dangerous than ransomware from anywhere else.
Individual hackers of minimal skill are a threat to the IT infrastructure used by every organization in the US, so yes. If you mean is there a differential danger relative to other potential threats, then no.
My interpretation of your statement is that organizations in the US don't care about security and do the bare minimum to secure their systems, if anything at all

Sounds accurate, sadly

Why should they care if even massive customer data leaks have little effect on market capitalisation?
Sounds like a job for regulators
>in the US

honestly it seems that nobody cares about it, carelessness is not limited to the US sadly

That is a correct interpretation.
My mother runs a healthcare center that had a ransomware attack from Iranian hackers during the pandemic. For a few days during the peak of the pandemic their IT systems stopped working and it impacted operations. I think it was a common practice to wait for an opportune crisis to strike. That probably resulted in more people dying from the pandemic.
> is threat being overstated for propaganda?

In the insurance journal?

This is an AP story reprinted by insurance journal, see https://apnews.com/article/technology-iran-violence-new-jers...
As someone who works in insurance, I'm not clear about the implication of your comment.

This is a pretty quantitative industry.

any sales-based industry is suspect in this way, though.
how is this being overstated? It's fairly neutral toned story being published in a highly specific trade journal.
No, obviously it’s “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.” [0] /s

[0] - https://www.engadget.com/2016-09-30-wanted-one-400-lb-hacker...

Propaganda