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

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

Iran's "Great Epic" cyber campaign has escalated into decentralized, unpredictable attacks against U.S. and allied companies following recent strikes on Tehran, with loosely coordinated hacktivists operating independently through Telegram and Reddit rather than under central command. The shift from centralized Iranian cyber operations to autonomous proxy groups poses a significant threat, as individual actors—potentially as young as teenagers—can now target critical infrastructure and conduct psychological operations without approval from higher authorities.