Citing unnamed sources, US media reported last week that the attack launched by the US Cyber Command disabled computers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard unit responsible for shooting down an American surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz on 20 June.
“You must not reveal your play,” he told AFP. “It’s an extremely subtle game of cat and mouse…It is not surprising the Iranians claim failed and we have no way of verifying the statements of either side,” he added. The fact that US officials chose, or were instructed, to quickly leak news about the alleged cyber-attack, points to a desire by President Donald Trump’s administration to prove it did not stand idly by, even after calling off a military strike against Tehran, experts said.
“If power plants were targeted, then power would have been cut off. If it were a water company, then people would have lined up to get bottles of water.” But the fact that the targets are military means only the Iranians could tell if they have suffered any damage, which they will of course not do.” Loic Guezo, of the French Information Security Club, said such cyber-attacks show that the US “has the resources and technical capabilities to neutralise an enemy’s system.”