Signal-jamming devices have been a real game-changer in gaining control of the skies for tactical purposes, but the impact they can have on civilian GPS can be deadly.
That is exactly <a href="https://archive.is/UboHA#selection-1259.70-1259.114">what happened</a> to a civilian medevac plane that took off from Roswell, New Mexico, this past May — and flew directly into a military training operation that disabled its navigation capabilities. While they were able to eventually get their GPS back online, it was too late — and the plane crashed into the Capitan Mountains. All four on board — two medevac pilots and two nurses — were killed instantly.
The flight should have been an easy one — 60 miles from Roswell to Ruidoso to pick up a patient — and the pilots, though relatively new, were well-qualified. Captain Keelan Clark, aged 30, had gotten his commercial pilot&#8217;s license a year and a half earlier, and first officer Ali Kawsara, 23, had previously worked cargo flights.
But medevac flights are often inherently riskier than most civilian flight operations, largely because they are often planned at a moment&#8217;s notice — and because, since lives are at stake, pilots often fly in weather that might be ill-advised under other circumstances.
The weather was not a factor on May 14, but the flight was arranged at the last minute — and it was only once they were airborne that they realized visibility was a problem. There was no moon, and almost no visible light on the ground as they traveled over rural areas, so they contacted Albuquerque Air Route Traffic Control Center and asked for permission to fly into Ruidoso &#8220;instruments only,&#8221; meaning they would not have to rely on visual cues from outside. Their request was granted.
About 100 miles west of their location, however, a training exercise known as NAVFEST was in progress at White Sands Missile Range, conducted by the U.S. Air Force&#8217;s 746th Test Squadron of the 704th Test Group. Before that weeklong exercise, the FAA had put out a warning stating that navigation systems as far as 400 miles away could be impacted by the GPS-disrupting technology being tested between May 12 and May 18.
Clark and Kawsara <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2026-08-03/business-aircraft-accident-reports-augsut-2026">quickly realized</a> that their GPS was disabled and asked the air traffic controller for a magnetic heading instead. They were told to fly west, and then north a minute later. Air Traffic Control in Albuquerque promised to give them vectors to assist with landing, but additional calls from other planes that had also lost their navigation capabilities kept ATC tied up for several minutes — at which point the medevac flight had already overshot the mark.
By then, the pilots were close enough to Ruidoso to see the lights at the airport — so they called in a request to &#8220;go visual&#8221; and approach the runway by sight. The request was granted, and they turned toward the airport — but they could not see the Capitan Mountains directly in their path.
The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-mexico-plane-crash-medevac-ntsb-gps-d95ba57711f926082d7f11d2c20f0f0d">crash</a> sparked a wildfire that burned for several weeks in the Capitan Mountains and destroyed more than 30,000 acres.
Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) <a href="https://www.organmountainnews.com/gabe-vasquez-ntsb-ruidoso-plane-crash-military-jamming-2026/">spoke</a> with National Transportation Safety Board officials about the crash, pushing for a full investigation: &#8220;This week, I communicated with NTSB officials that a thorough investigation must be concluded to fully understand the cause of this tragic and fatal crash, and prevent future accidents.&#8221;
GPS-disrupting devices have already changed the face of battle, as missile systems and unmanned drones often rely on GPS to reach their intended targets — but the tradeoff has always been the risk that friendly communication and navigation systems could also be disrupted at the same time.
In an effort to mitigate that risk, the United States Army recently tested a GPS-disrupting system known colloquially as the &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-armys-new-hammer-of-the-gods-could-change-modern-warfare">Hammer of the Gods</a>&#8221; — which can disable the navigation systems of enemy missiles and drones while allowing open communications between friendly operators.

Aircraft cockpit instrument panel with navigation display and flight systems during cruise

Military Cyberwarfare Exercise Linked To Plane Crash That Killed Everyone On Board

Airplane crash

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Hackers believed to be backed by Iran targeted more than 30 municipal water systems across Minnesota this week, several media outlets reported, appearing to validate months of <a href="https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa26-097a">federal warnings</a> that Tehran aimed to disrupt internet-exposed devices controlling operations at U.S. water, wastewater, and energy facilities.
<a href="https://mn.gov/mnit/media/blog/?id=38-761869">Minnesota IT Services (MNIT)</a> said a &#8220;coordinated cyberattack&#8221; targeted operational technology on July 26 and 27, triggering the state&#8217;s cybersecurity incident response protocols.
The attack briefly knocked one system offline and disrupted remote sensors at another, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/07/30/us-spy-agencies-suspect-iran-launched-cyberattack-minnesota-water-facilities/">The Washington Post.</a> No drinking water has been reported as unsafe, according to the outlet.
&#8220;Cyberattacks against critical infrastructure require a coordinated, whole-of-government response,&#8221; said John Israel, Minnesota chief information security officer. &#8220;MNIT is working side by side with our partners to share intelligence, support affected communities, and help utilities restore operations safely while strengthening defenses against future attacks.”
Investigators are now probing whether Iranian hackers carried out the attack, but intelligence officials cautioned the assessment remains preliminary as additional forensic evidence is gathered, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-investigating-iran-cyberattack-minnesota-water-systems/">according</a> to CBS News. Officials have not ruled out the possibility that another actor is posing as Iran to inflame tensions amid the U.S. conflict with the regime. 
The FBI is investigating, The Washington Post reported. If Iranian involvement is confirmed, it could mark a serious escalation in Tehran&#8217;s ongoing campaign to target U.S. critical infrastructure. 
“It is not a secret that these things have been taking place since the spring,” Joe Slowik, director of threat research for Dataminr, told the Post. “There have been disruptions in multiple critical infrastructure sectors. It’s a big deal.”
President Trump, however, cast doubt on reports linking Iran to the attack, using a Cabinet meeting at Camp David to dismiss the incident and instead blame Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“I think Minnesota is behind it. Do you know who&#8217;s behind it? Minnesota, because they&#8217;re grossly incompetent. I think the governor&#8217;s behind it,” Trump <a href="https://x.com/Acyn/status/2083228500077797797?s=20">said</a>. “I don&#8217;t think there was an Iranian cyber attack. I think that Minnesota ought to get its act together. It&#8217;s one of the worst-run states.” 
&#8220;They like to say, &#8216;Oh, it was Iran.&#8217; Iran should be so lucky. Iran&#8217;s got bigger problems than worrying about Minnesota,&#8221; the president <a href="https://x.com/disclosetv/status/2083215311315087592?s=20">added</a>.
Nate George, the mayor of Braham, Minnesota, appeared to echo Trump&#8217;s criticism, arguing that misplaced government spending leaves local communities less prepared to defend against cyberattacks.
&#8220;This is exactly why state government must spend taxpayers&#8217; money on the things that matter, not political agenda action items,&#8221; George said. &#8220;That means funding Local Government Aid and providing practical assistance to help communities strengthen cybersecurity, replace aging systems, and protect basic services residents and businesses rely upon.&#8221;
Walz, on the other hand, quickly fired back, arguing that federal cuts made the U.S. vulnerable to such attacks. 
“Trump knows exactly who is responsible for this attack, and knows that other states were hit too. This is what modern warfare looks like, and it further illustrates there’s no plan to win a war with Iran,” Walz <a href="https://x.com/GovTimWalz/status/2083235434168021219?s=20">said</a> on X. “DOGE took an axe to CISA and left the U.S. exposed to cyber attacks. Thankfully, our experts in Minnesota were able to identify the vulnerability quickly and work with local communities to stop it.”

Donald Trump

America’s Water Supply Was Attacked, And Iran Is The Main Suspect

Cybersecurity

Iran

Islamic Republic

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

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The FBI recently took out a massive internet scam network, arresting over 300 people, freeing over 2,000 people from human trafficking, and seizing over $8 billion in cryptocurrency. 
The FBI said last week that it primarily focused on taking down what it <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/fbi-seizes-record-8-billion-182232782.html">calls</a> “scam compounds” in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The scam compounds are typically guarded and filled with trafficked workers who are forced to conduct romance scams and fake investment schemes that target many Americans. Over 2,000 people were freed from the compounds. 
The operation focused on Prince Holding Group, a company in Cambodia. Authorities also took out a criminal compound in Dubai, Myanmar, and Thailand. Altogether, the FBI seized over 127,000 bitcoin from the nine scam compounds, which is over $8 billion, making it the largest crypto seizure in human history.
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The United States worked with Dubai police to arrest 275 people, six of whom will be transported to the United States to face federal charges.
FBI Director Kash Patel, said the major crackdown gives a clear message to scammers across the world.
&#8220;If you target Americans, we will find you, disrupt your network, and bring every available tool of the federal government down on you,” Patel <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/fbi-seizes-record-setting-8-billion-cryptocurrency-amid-intercontinental-scam-compound-crackdown">told</a> Fox News. 

The FBI also took down the &#8220;Democratic Karen Benevolent Army,” an armed militia in Myanmar that has ties to Chinese mobsters and has been engaging in this criminal scam network..
The U.S. seized thousands of smartphones and other office equipment in Thailand, severely crippling the scam infrastructure there.
During the whole operation, the FBI <a href="https://x.com/jacobincambodia/status/2060184532104700246">worked</a> with the Royal Thai police, the Burmese army, Dubai’s police, and some Chinese investigators. The FBI also utilized Elon Musk’s Starlink to take down over 7,000 terminals in Myanmar that criminals were using to facilitate communications.
The FBI’s 2025 &#8220;Internet Crime Report&#8221; <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/cryptocurrency-and-ai-scams-bilk-americans-of-billions">states</a> that Americans have been defrauded of $21 billion in cyber-related crimes, with AI and crypto-related scams being the costliest. 
 
Apprehending these con artists and hackers is difficult as the internet allows them to be scattered across the world, seemingly untouchable by American authorities.

FBI Makes Largest Crypto Seizure Ever In Global ‘Scam Compound’ Crackdown

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Iran was plunged into a near-total digital blackout on Sunday, with internet traffic reportedly dropping to just 1% of normal levels, after Israeli airstrikes struck regime-linked targets across the country.
As kinetic warfare ravages physical infrastructure, a massive, coordinated &#8220;cyber-enabled&#8221; offensive has simultaneously paralyzed the nation’s communications, leaving its 90 million citizens isolated and the regime’s propaganda machine in tatters.
According to the internet watchdog NetBlocks, Iran’s national connectivity flatlined &#8220;at 1% of ordinary levels&#8221; on Sunday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
⚠️ Update: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Iran</a>&#39;s internet blackout has now passed the 24-hour mark with national connectivity flatlining at 1% of ordinary levels.
The measure limits civic engagement at a key moment for the country&#39;s future after the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei in US and Israeli airstrikes. <a href="https://t.co/W4jDgds1Ty">pic.twitter.com/W4jDgds1Ty</a>
&mdash; NetBlocks (@netblocks) <a href="https://twitter.com/netblocks/status/2028008024430813368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
While the Iranian government has a history of imposing &#8220;regime-ordered&#8221; internet shutdowns during civil unrest, a tactic human rights groups say has been used to suppress dissent and limit documentation of abuses, analysts caution that the current collapse could reflect a combination of state-mandated censorship and high-level Western electronic warfare.
Doug Madory, a leading internet analyst, noted that the sliver of remaining traffic is likely limited to &#8220;whitelisted&#8221; networks controlled by government loyalists, CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/02/irans-internet-down-amid-reports-of-us-israel-cyberattacks.html">reported.</a>
The digital assault has specifically targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and state media. The state-run IRNA news agency was forced offline, while Tasnim, a site closely linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was reportedly hacked to display subversive messages against the late Supreme Leader.
On television, the popular sports channel IRIB TV3 was reportedly intercepted by pro-Western hackers, broadcasting a 36-second clip of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling for the Iranian people to rise against the regime.
Perhaps the most sophisticated breach involved BadeSaba, a popular Islamic prayer and calendar app with more than five million downloads. On February 28, the app <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/hackers-hit-iranian-apps-websites-after-us-israeli-strikes-2026-03-01/">sent</a> urgent push notifications urging people to &#8220;give up weapons&#8221; and join &#8220;liberation forces.&#8221;
Western intelligence sources say that the cyber offensive was designed to do more than just spread dissent; it aimed to cripple the IRGC’s command-and-control systems, disrupting the coordination of any potential counterattacks. The operation combined Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks with deep intrusions into energy and aviation infrastructure.
As Iran attempts to retaliate with drone and missile strikes against U.S. and allied targets, experts warn that a &#8220;cyber-retaliation&#8221; is imminent. Adam Meyers of CrowdStrike reported that Iran-aligned threat actors are already conducting reconnaissance for potential strikes on Western critical infrastructure, including finance and healthcare.
For now, however, the Islamic Republic remains largely silent and dark, facing a crisis that is as much digital as it is existential.

Computer Hacker

SILENCED AND SHATTERED: U.S.-Israeli Strikes Plunge Iranian Regime Into Digital Dark Age

WASHINGTON—If you’ve ever received a text message claiming to be from the United States Postal Service about an undelivered package — or from E-ZPass demanding payment for an unpaid toll — you may have been targeted by a Chinese phishing operation.
Lighthouse, a China-based Phishing-as-a-Service operation, has targeted over a million victims through its elaborate text message scam, Google alleges in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The company says Lighthouse’s scheme “swindled innocent victims out of millions of dollars.”
“Defendants have affirmatively directed actions at the United States, including the Southern District of New York, by creating fake websites mimicking the New York City government website (nyc.gov) and New York E-ZPass website (e-zpassny.com), among many others, for use in these phishing schemes,” the complaint said.
According to the filing, the software used by the defendants allowed cybercriminals to send mass text messages to large numbers of victims simultaneously.
Google says it was also harmed by the misuse of its trademarks and services.
“In facilitating and executing these phishing campaigns, the Lighthouse Enterprise preys on the public trust in Google, a leader in the technology space, by misappropriating Google branding, including by using Google logos on fraudulent websites,” the complaint said.
Google’s logos were used on spoofed websites to trick victims into providing personal and financial information, according to the company.
The court this week granted Google a temporary restraining order against Lighthouse, which has since gone dark.
“This shutdown of Lighthouse’s operations is a win for everyone,” Google General Counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado told The Daily Wire. “We will continue to hold malicious scammers accountable and protect consumers.”
The company said it had devoted “substantial resources to investigate and combat the Lighthouse Enterprise’s criminal activity.”
An investigation by <a href="https://www.secalliance.com/blog/the-evolution-of-chinese-smishing-syndicates-and-digital-wallet-fraud" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SECAlliance</a> revealed that between July 2023 and October 2024, the platform was used to launch fake USPS phishing websites and said somewhere between 12.7 and 115 million credit cards were estimated to have been compromised across the nation.
The texts claim that the victims have an “undelivered package” and lead them to a fake website, which steals their information.
While the full scope of the enterprise remains unclear, the complaint said the Lighthouse Enterprise includes “several connected threat actor groups.”
Google’s efforts to fight cybercriminals don’t end there.
This year, the company <a href="https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/how-google-protects-against-scams-2025/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> new features, including using artificial intelligence to flag common scam messages.
The company is also announcing the endorsement of three bipartisan pieces of legislation targeting cyber scams.
This includes the Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception (GUARD) Act, the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act, and the Scam Compound Accountability and Mobilization (SCAM) Act.
“From the courtroom to the Capitol, we are taking action to stop these attacks. But this is a shared fight. While we take on criminal networks and advocate for stronger laws, we are also building smarter, AI-driven tools to help you spot and avoid these scams,” Prado said.
The company says it hopes to “make the digital world a much harder place for criminals to do business.”

Symbol image hacker

Those Fake E-ZPass Texts? They’re Coming From China.

Google

Chinese hackers unleashed the first autonomous AI cyberattack against dozens of U.S. companies and government agencies earlier this fall, with artificial intelligence executing “80-90%” of operations at “physically impossible” speeds.
The suspected Chinese state-sponsored hackers manipulated Anthropic’s AI coding tool, Claude, to target roughly 30 entities, including major technology corporations, financial institutions, chemical manufacturing companies, and U.S. government agencies, according to a detailed <a href="https://assets.anthropic.com/m/ec212e6566a0d47/original/Disrupting-the-first-reported-AI-orchestrated-cyber-espionage-campaign.pdf">report</a> published by Anthropic.
In what the company calls “the first documented case of a large-scale cyberattack executed without substantial human intervention,” the Chinese hackers bypassed Claude’s safeguards by claiming to be part of a credible cybersecurity firm conducting defensive testing.
This social engineering of Claude provided enough cover for the hackers to evade detection by the company for months, allowing the hackers to freely manipulate the coding tool into autonomously performing complex infiltration techniques “more efficiently than any human operator.”
“This campaign demonstrates that the barriers to performing sophisticated cyberattacks have dropped substantially—and we can predict that they’ll continue to do so,” Anthropic warned in its report. “Threat actors can now use agentic AI systems to do the work of entire teams of experienced hackers with the right set up.”
The attack required minimal human intervention, relying on Claude’s “agent” — a form of AI that can operate autonomously for long periods without human intervention — to substantially ease the workload for the hackers.
“Analysis of operational tempo, request volumes, and activity patterns confirms the AI executed approximately 80 to 90 % of all tactical work independently, with humans serving in strategic supervisory roles,” the report states, adding that each hacking campaign only required 4-6 critical decision points from the human operator.
“The AI made thousands of requests per second — an attack speed that would have been, for human hackers, simply impossible to match,” the company <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/news/disrupting-AI-espionage">said</a> in its blog post.
Once safeguards had been bypassed, Claude autonomously probed for vulnerabilities in the selected targets, wrote custom exploit code to harvest usernames and passwords, and exfiltrated the data with minimal human intervention.
Hackers have been utilizing AI for years to perform minor tasks, such as scanning the web for vulnerable sites and managing phishing attacks. However, the most recent hacking campaign has proven that AI is not far off from conducting fully autonomous cyberattacks, only held back by hallucinations that hinder autonomous offensive capabilities and safeguards implemented by companies like Anthropic.
The company reports that only four of the targeted institutions were successfully breached by the Chinese attacks, which managed to steal troves of sensitive information. The U.S. government was not among the institutions breached, Anthropic <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/china-hackers-ai-cyberattacks-anthropic-41d7ce76?mod=hp_lead_pos4">told</a> the Wall Street Journal.
Anthropic managed to stop the attack before more companies were breached, banning the hackers’ accounts and updating the methods used to identify similar attacks in the future.
Anthropic’s strategy is to focus on using Claude to identify vulnerabilities in its own defenses, thereby staying a step ahead of malicious hackers who exploit AI for autonomous attacks, per the Journal.
“These kinds of tools will just speed up things,” Logan Graham told the Journal, who leads the team that tests for vulnerabilities in Claude. “If we don’t enable defenders to have a very substantial permanent advantage, I’m concerned that we maybe lose this race.”

ChineseHacker

Chinese Hackers Hijack U.S. AI In First Autonomous Cyberattack

Artificial Intelligence

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World

The footage was striking: plumes of smoke rising over Iran’s nuclear facilities, the culmination of years of brinkmanship and intelligence coups. With one sweeping air campaign, the United States <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/media-fail-iranian-foreign-minister-admits-fordow-was-seriously-and-heavily-damaged?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Media+Fail%3A+Iranian+Foreign+Minister+Admits+Fordow+Was+%E2%80%98Seriously+And+Heavily+Damaged%E2%80%99">sent a message</a>: the Islamic Republic will not be permitted to cross the nuclear threshold.
Yet as the dust settles, it would be a profound mistake to assume the threat has been neutralized. If anything, Iran’s nuclear humiliation may accelerate a transition that has been quietly underway for years — from ambitions of atomic deterrence to mastery of digital disruption.
Even as diplomats trumpet the ceasefire, cybersecurity professionals are aware of the dangers that still exist. In 2025, a nation doesn’t need fissile material to cripple its adversaries, it only needs a cadre of skilled operators, a menu of stolen exploits, and a willingness to play dirty in the world’s most critical networks.
Iran’s embrace of cyber operations is hardly a new development. In a 2012 cyberattack U.S. intelligence<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/business/global/cyberattack-on-saudi-oil-firm-disquiets-us.html"> attributed</a> to Iran, the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/cyber-operations/compromise-saudi-aramco-and-rasgas">Shamoon virus</a> wiped tens of thousands of computers inside Saudi Aramco, a major Saudi Arabian oil company, reducing corporate IT to smoking rubble — digitally speaking. Since then, Tehran’s capabilities have matured steadily.
Today, Iran’s cyber forces are well-trained and highly motivated. And given the loss of their nuclear infrastructure, they now possess ample incentive to reassert influence through other means. Cyber warfare is attractive precisely because it offers an asymmetrical advantage: the power to disrupt, humiliate, and retaliate without risking a direct military clash.
Recall how Russia, which has historically <a href="https://cybersecuritynews.com/researchers-uncovered-on-how-russia-leverages-private-companies/amp/">dominated the cybersphere</a>, has waged its campaign in Ukraine. Moscow hasn’t relied solely on tanks and artillery. It has unleashed waves of digital attacks against Ukraine’s power grids, satellite networks, and banking systems. Behind these campaigns, notorious criminal groups — like <a href="https://www.enigmasoftware.com/contiransomware-removal/">Conti</a> and <a href="https://www.enigmasoftware.com/blackbastaransomware-removal/">BlackBasta</a> — have operated with state blessing, extorting ransoms and leaking sensitive data.
This blurred line between espionage, sabotage, and organized crime has become a model for authoritarian states under pressure. Iran, facing international isolation and domestic discontent, has every reason to follow it.
The average person might imagine cyber warfare as a distant, abstract threat — some arcane business best left to <a href="https://www.rivitmedia.com/topics/it-cybersecurity-best-practices/">IT departments</a>. That illusion is exactly what adversaries count on.
Consider Zero-Day vulnerabilities: flaws in software that even the developers don’t yet know exist. These hidden back doors can be sold on dark markets for astronomical sums. And once a hostile operator has them, no firewall or antivirus can offer much protection.
Or take Remote Access Trojans, like <a href="https://www.spywareremove.com/removechaosrat.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chaos RAT</a> — a malicious tool that can lodge itself in a network and sit there, undetected, for months. The malware can exfiltrate sensitive data, delete backups, or simply wait for a signal to unleash chaos.
Iran’s cyber units have both the motive and the skill to deploy such capabilities against Western targets — especially at a moment when the regime needs to prove it can still inflict pain.
To understand the scale of the risk, look no further than China’s Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups, like <a href="https://www.cyclonis.com/remove-silver-fox-apt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Silver Fox</a>. These teams excel at patient infiltration — building footholds in networks over years.
While Iran does not yet possess the same breadth of resources or global reach as Beijing, the playbook is there for the taking. Iranian operators have already borrowed tools and techniques from Russian and Chinese counterparts. They can acquire Zero-Days from the same vendors. They can lease infrastructure from the same criminal marketplaces.
In this sense, the global cyber threat landscape resembles a dark ecosystem: a place where alliances are fluid, tradecraft is shared, and almost anything is for sale.
Much has been made of the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Certainly, it has brought a measure of short-term calm. But it’s worth stating the obvious: no ceasefire agreement binds a nation’s hackers.
Cyber operations are deniable by design. Tehran can escalate these attacks while maintaining plausible deniability. If a power grid goes down or a hospital network is encrypted, Iranian officials will simply shrug and claim ignorance — or suggest that Western companies should improve their “cyber hygiene.”
Indeed, it’s likely that in the coming months, Iran will test the boundaries of what it can accomplish in cyberspace without provoking another round of airstrikes. And unless Western governments are prepared, these tests may prove costly.
The United States remains unmatched in conventional military capability. But cyber defense has never been America’s comparative advantage. While agencies like the <a href="https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news">Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)</a> have made enormous progress, much of the nation’s critical infrastructure — power stations, water systems, hospitals — remains vulnerable.
Decades of underinvestment, legacy software, and fragmented security practices have created an expansive attack surface. A determined adversary doesn’t need to destroy a city to sow panic. It just needs to flip a switch in the right control system — or quietly siphon data for blackmail and extortion.
This paradox — dominance in kinetic warfare, vulnerability in cyber — demands a strategic recalibration. As Iran pivots further into digital conflict, the costs of ignoring this imbalance will only grow.
America cannot afford to treat cybersecurity as an afterthought, an IT budget line item tucked behind more visible defense priorities. It must become a central pillar of national security strategy.
That means investing in modern detection systems powered by artificial intelligence. It means developing real deterrence — making clear that cyber aggression will incur meaningful consequences. And it means supporting public-private partnerships to protect industries that have become part of the national nervous system.
Iran’s nuclear setback is undeniably significant but no bomb can erase the knowledge Tehran has acquired about hacking adversaries. No missile strike can neutralize an ideology that prizes asymmetrical warfare.
The coming months will test the West’s capacity for vigilance. Iran’s leaders face enormous pressure to prove they remain formidable. And while their nuclear ambitions are now smoldering ruins, their cyber capabilities remain intact — and perhaps emboldened.
Policymakers should remember: the decisive battles of the 21st century may not begin with the roar of jets over a desert. They may start in the silent corridors of a server farm, where an invisible adversary is already laying traps.
In that theater, the rules are different — and the consequences no less severe.
* * *
Julio Rivera is a business and political strategist, cybersecurity researcher, founder of <a href="https://www.itfunk.org/">ItFunk.Org</a>, and a political commentator and columnist. His writing, which is focused on cybersecurity and politics, is regularly published by many of the largest news organizations in the world.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Interior of big modern server room. 3d rendering illustration

From Missiles To Malware: Iran’s Potential Pivot To Digital Warfare

Computer

Internet

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk responded after X, the social media platform he owns, faced multiple outages around the world on Monday.
Outage-tracking website DownDetector.com tracked outages beginning just before 5 a.m. ET and lasting until past noon. At 5 a.m. ET, the total number of outage reports was more than 20,000. Another spike in reports occurred around 9 a.m. ET, and reached nearly 40,000. A third prolonged spike in outage reports took place just over an hour later, peaking at just under 30,000 reports and sustaining that number for nearly two hours.
&#8220;First, protests against DOGE. Then, Tesla stores were attacked. Now, X is down. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that this downtime is the result of an attack on X,&#8221; DOGE Designer posted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
First, protests against DOGE.
Then, Tesla stores were attacked.
Now, 𝕏 is down.
I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that this downtime is the result of an attack on 𝕏.
&mdash; DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) <a href="https://twitter.com/cb_doge/status/1899141555073769762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Musk responded, saying that he agreed and planned to investigate.
&#8220;There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against X. We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved. Tracing,&#8221; he posted.
According to <a href="https://variety.com/2025/digital/global/x-down-for-thousands-of-users-outage-elon-musk-1236333025/">Variety</a>, the reports of outages were not localized to the United States — and users as far away as Europe had reported issues using the site. The initial reports, which spiked around 5 a.m. ET, included just over 10,000 reports from the United Kingdom.
The issues extended to both the mobile app and the web browser version of the site, with just over half of all users reporting that the app was down and just over one-third reporting issues with the browser version.
Users attempting to load the site saw a variety of different issues, from Cloudflare errors to messages that read, &#8220;Posts aren&#8217;t loading right now. Please try again.&#8221;
By 1 p.m. ET, reports of outages on the DownDetector site had dropped off precipitously.
The last widespread X outage occurred in August of 2024.

Elon Musk

X Rocked By Major Outages, Elon Musk Says ‘Massive Cyberattack’ To Blame

X Rocked By Major Outages, Elon Musk Responds

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

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Ascension Health, one of the nation&#8217;s largest health care networks, said it was targeted by a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cyberattack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cyberattack</a> on Wednesday, which interrupted &#8220;access to some systems.&#8221;
Ascension released a <a href="https://about.ascension.org/news/2024/05/network-interruption-update" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>, saying that it &#8220;detected unusual activity on select technology network systems,&#8221; adding that it believes the unusual activity was &#8220;due to a cyber event.&#8221; The St. Louis-based group is the fourth-largest <a href="https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/rankings-and-ratings/100-largest-hospitals-and-health-systems-in-the-us-2023.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">health care</a> system in the U.S. with around 140 hospitals. Ascension also runs a pharmacy system, but the group didn&#8217;t say whether its pharmacy network was affected by the cyber event.
&#8220;Our care teams are trained for these kinds of disruptions and have initiated procedures to ensure patient care delivery continues to be safe and as minimally impacted as possible,&#8221; the statement added. &#8220;There has been a disruption to clinical operations, and we continue to assess the impact and duration of the disruption.&#8221;
The health care group added that it is investigating the cybersecurity event to see if any of its patients&#8217; sensitive information was compromised.
&#8220;Should we determine that any sensitive information was affected, we will notify and support those individuals in accordance with all relevant regulatory and legal guidelines,&#8221; Ascension said.
The suspected cyberattack affected some patients&#8217; hospital visits, including a man in Southfield, Michigan, who checked himself into the hospital fearing his cancer had returned. Zackery Lopez said he had to wait seven hours just to receive some pain medication, adding that he witnessed chaos on the hospital floor as staff tried to deal with the cyber event.
&#8220;Right now it is crazy. Nurses are running around. Doctors are running around. There’s no computers whatsoever they can use,&#8221; Lopez told <a href="https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/ascension-hospital-cyber-attack-disrupts-patients-visit-for-potential-cancer-diagnosis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox 2</a>. &#8220;So, they’re actually using charts.&#8221;
Hospitals and pharmacies have been targeted more often in cyberattacks in recent years, falling prey to cybercriminals who hack into a system to lock up sensitive information or critical health care files and hold it for ransom, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cybersecurity-investigators-worry-ransomware-attacks-may-worsen-as-young-hackers-in-us-work-with-russians-60-minutes-transcript/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab4i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Often, these cybercriminals are based in foreign nations, especially Russia.
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Earlier this year, a U.S. health insurance company was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-health-insurance-company-hit-with-cyberattack-from-suspected-nation-state-actor-crippling-pharmacies-ability-to-process-prescriptions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">targeted</a> by a cyberattack from what it believed to be a foreign “nation-state” actor. UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest health insurance agencies in the country, said in February that its subsidiary Change Healthcare was targeted by a suspected nation-state actor that gained access to its system and resulted in some of its pharmacies being unable to process prescriptions for insurance companies to receive payment.

Massive U.S. Health Care System Targeted In Suspected Cyberattack, Hospital Operations Disrupted

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<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese</a> hackers gained access to personal data about thousands of British soldiers, sailors, and air force members, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/china-hacked-ministry-of-defence-sky-news-learns-13130757" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a new report.
The data breach exposed the bank details of up to 272,000 soldiers and veterans, including some home addresses, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/uk-defense-ministry-data-breach-china-49899b429f138bb2075d9fd6703ac7b0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">through</a> a hack of a third-party payroll system, the Associated Press reported. The British government confirmed on Tuesday that the Ministry of Defense had been hacked by a “malign” actor, but did not specifically name China. However, Sky News <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/china-hacked-ministry-of-defence-sky-news-learns-13130757" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on Monday that the hacking had been instigated by China.
British Prime Minister <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/rishi-sunak" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rishi Sunak</a> said Tuesday that a &#8220;malign actor has compromised the armed forces payment network,” before turning to directly criticizing China.
&#8220;I set out a very robust policy towards China, which means that we need to take the powers which we have done to protect ourselves against the risk that China and other countries pose to us,&#8221; he <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/china-calls-accusations-it-hacked-mod-completely-fabricated-and-malicious-slanders-13130985" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;They are a country with fundamentally different values to ours that are acting in a way that is more authoritarian and assertive abroad.&#8221;
During a briefing on the hack on Tuesday, U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said that “state involvement” could not be ruled out, but said that he couldn’t reveal more information about who the government suspected to be behind the hack.
“For reasons of national security, we can’t release further details of the suspected cyber activity behind this incident,” he said, adding that once the hack was discovered, the system was immediately taken offline.
Conservative Member of Parliament Tobias Ellwood <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/china-hacked-ministry-of-defence-sky-news-learns-13130757" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Sky News that the hack may have been an effort to compromise soldiers struggling financially. He said China &#8220;was probably looking at the financially vulnerable with a view that they may be coerced in exchange for cash.&#8221;
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The Chinese Embassy in London <a href="http://gb.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/PressandMedia/Spokepersons/202405/t20240507_11300683.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> by asserting that any claims of Chinese government involvement are false.
“The said accusation made by the UK side is nothing but a fabricated and malicious slander. It is extremely absurd and despicable. We strongly condemn it,” the embassy said. “China has all along been fighting cyberattacks according to law. We firmly oppose any groundless accusations against China out of political motives. We urge the UK side to stop spreading disinformation, and stop such self-staged political farces.”

Freedom Parade For Soldiers Returning From Afghanistan

‘Malign Actor’: China Accused Of Hacking Data Of Thousands Of British Soldiers

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Rishi Sunak

A subsidiary of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/health-insurance/largest-health-insurance-companies/">one of the largest</a> health insurance agencies in the U.S. was hit by a cyberattack earlier this week from what it believes is a foreign “nation-state” actor, crippling many pharmacies’ ability to process prescriptions across the country.
UnitedHealth Group, a Minnesota-based company, said its subsidiary Change Healthcare’s system was compromised when a “suspected nation-state associated cyber security threat actor” gained access on Wednesday, Bloomberg <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unitedhealth-blamed-nation-state-threat-214720756.html">reported</a>. Change Healthcare was the only network affected by the cyberattack, according to UnitedHealth.
“UnitedHealth Group identified a suspected nation-state associated cyber security threat actor had gained access to some of the Change Healthcare information technology systems,” the company <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/22/tech/us-pharmacies-face-delays-filling-prescriptions-because-of-cyberattack/index.html">said</a>. “Immediately upon detection of this outside threat, the company proactively isolated the impacted systems from other connecting systems in the interest of protecting our partners and patients, to contain, assess and remediate the incident.”
The multi-billion-dollar health insurance company is unsure when the service for its subsidiary will be restored and is working with law enforcement and security experts on the issue.
“Change Healthcare is experiencing a cybersecurity issue, and our experts are working to address the matter,” UnitedHealth said in a statement. “Once we became aware of the outside threat, in the interest of protecting our partners and patients, we took immediate action to disconnect our systems to prevent further impact.”
Following the cyberattack, some pharmacies could not process prescriptions for insurance companies to receive payment, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/22/tech/us-pharmacies-face-delays-filling-prescriptions-because-of-cyberattack/index.html">reported</a>. Hospitals such as the Naval Hospital in Camp Pendleton, California, and Evans Army Community Hospital in Colorado released statements saying they were either unable to process prescription claims or were experiencing delays.
“Due to an ongoing enterprise-wide issue, all Camp Pendleton and associated pharmacies are unable to process any prescription claims. We are only able to assist patients with emergency and urgent prescriptions from hospital providers at this time. Please visit our website for info,” the Naval Hospital, Camp Pendleton, <a href="https://twitter.com/NavHospCampPen/status/1760733389186085116">said</a>.
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On Thursday, the American Hospital Association <a href="https://www.aha.org/advisory/2024-02-22-unitedhealth-groups-change-healthcare-experiencing-cyberattack-could-impact-health-care-providers-and">warned</a> its roughly 5,000 member hospitals and other health care providers of the cyberattack against Change Healthcare and said it believes “all other systems across UnitedHealth Group are operational.”

U.S. Health Insurance Company Hit With Cyberattack From ‘Suspected Nation-State’ Actor, Crippling Pharmacies’ Ability To Process Prescriptions

U.S. Health Insurance Company Hit With Cyberattack From 'Suspected Nation-State' Actor, Crippling Pharmacies' Ability To Process Prescriptions

FBI Director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christopher-wray" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christopher Wray</a> warned this week that communist China is preparing to &#8220;wreak havoc&#8221; across the U.S. with massive cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure.
Wray made the remarks during a Wednesday hearing in front of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, titled: &#8220;The Chinese Community Party Cyber Threat to the American Homeland and National Security.&#8221;
&#8220;There has been far too little public focus on the fact that PRC [People&#8217;s Republic of China] hackers are targeting our critical infrastructure—our water treatment plants, our electrical grid, our oil and natural gas pipelines, our transportation systems—and the risk that poses to every American requires our attention now,&#8221; Wray said. &#8220;China’s hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities, if and when China decides the time has come to strike.&#8221;
Wray said that China &#8220;has a bigger hacking program than every other major nation combined,&#8221; adding: &#8220;In fact, if each one of the FBI’s cyber agents and intelligence analysts focused exclusively on the China threat, China’s hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50 to 1.&#8221;
Wray specifically called out the Chinese Communist Party, saying their &#8220;multi-pronged assault on our national and economic security&#8221; included &#8220;low blows against civilians.&#8221;
&#8220;The PRC’s cyber onslaught goes way beyond pre-positioning for future conflict. Today, and literally every day, they’re actively attacking our economic security—engaging in wholesale theft of our innovation and our personal and corporate data,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The PRC cyber threat is made vastly more dangerous by the way they knit cyber into a whole-of-government campaign against us. They recruit human sources to target our businesses, using insiders to steal the same kinds of innovation and data their hackers are targeting while also engaging in corporate deception—hiding Beijing’s hand in transactions, joint ventures, and investments—to do the same.&#8221;
Wray said that China was targeting the freedoms of U.S. citizens inside the U.S. by engaging in campaigns to &#8220;silence, coerce, and threaten our citizens and residents.&#8221;
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Wray said that the FBI has deployed experts in the realms of cyber, counterintelligence, criminal, and weapons of mass destruction to combat China&#8217;s attacks against the U.S.
&#8220;The budgets that emerge from the discussions underway now will dictate what resources we’ll have ready in 2027—a year that, as this committee knows all too well, the CCP has circled on its calendar,&#8221; he added. &#8220;And that year will be on us before you know it. As I’ve described, the PRC is already, today, putting their pieces in place.&#8221;

FBI Director Chris Wray Testifies Before House Judiciary Committee

FBI Director Chris Wray Reveals The Massive Size China’s Hacking Program

FBI Director Chris Wray Reveals The Massive Size China's Hacking Program

Christopher Wray

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