FBI charges Iranian hackers, recommends action to prevent further attacks

The FBI yesterday three Iranian nationals with allegedly orchestrating a scheme to hack into the computer networks of multiple U.S. victims, including an attempted but thwarted last year against Boston Children鈥檚 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.
鈥淭he FBI鈥檚 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,鈥 said John Riggi, AHA鈥檚 national advisor for cybersecurity and risk. 鈥淐learly, 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鈥檚 exactly what happened in this situation, with the important disruption by the FBI of an attack by this group targeting a U.S. children鈥檚 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.鈥