Cyber retaliation from Iran is a problem for U.S. companies — ‘It’s in the hands of a 19-year-old hacker in a Telegram room,’ ex-NSA operative says

As strikes hit Tehran on Saturday morning, millions of Iranians got a strange push notification on their phones. The BadeSaba Calendar prayer app, which has more than 5 million downloads, had been compromised, and the app issued alerts saying, “Help has arrived!” and called for a “People’s Army” to defend their “Iranian brothers,” according to an assessment from cyber intel firm Flashpoint. On Sunday, the app sent with surrender instructions for rank-and-file members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and safe locations for protesters to gather. 

Then regime loyalists quickly struck back.

According to Flashpoint, what followed on Sunday was the “most aggressive” use so far of what’s known as Iran’s “Great Epic” cyber campaign, which is a loosely coordinated group of cyber operatives under a channel called the “Cyber Islamic Resistance.” Under the group’s umbrella, various cyber attackers have shut down gas stations in Jordan, and led attacks against U.S. and Israeli military providers to destroy data as well as conduct psychological operations mimicking the BadeSaba hack.

The next 48 hours ...