The next conflict involving the United States may not begin with a missile, a soldier, or a warning siren.
In the days following U.S. and Israeli strikes that shook Iran’s leadership, American intelligence officials warned that Iran and its proxies could attempt cyber retaliation. Financial institutions across the United States were quietly placed on heightened alert, increasing monitoring across banking networks and payment systems.
Officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have also said they are monitoring potential cyber threats to critical infrastructure as tensions with Iran escalate.
The warnings received little public attention. Inside the financial sector, however, they were taken seriously.
Those responsible for protecting critical infrastructure understand something the public often does not. Modern conflict rarely begins where people expect it.
For years security experts have warned that the most vulnerable front in modern warfare is not always a border or a military base. It is infrastructure. Power grids. Communications networks. Financial systems.
In other words, the systems that allow ordinary life to function.
Cyber warfare has become an attractive tool for regimes that cannot match the United States militarily. It is cheaper than conventional warfare, easier to deny, and capable of creating disruption far beyond the point of attack.
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Source: PolitiBrawl
