How Much Should We Fear Iranian Cyber Proxies?

Posted: July 21st, 2016

By Matthew McInnis

Matthew McInnis is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on Iran, specifically its intentions, strategic culture, military power, and goals. He also works on US defense and regional security issues in the Persian Gulf (Iran, Iraq, and the Arabian Peninsula) and on the effectiveness of the US intelligence community. Before joining AEI, McInnis served as a senior analyst and in other leadership positions for the US Department of Defense. McInnis has a master's degree in international relations from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and another master's degree in European studies from New York University. He obtained a bachelor's degree in international studies from Eckerd College in Florida.

Most analysts have been impressed, and increasingly concerned, with the rapid improvement of Iran’s cyber capabilities. Tehran undoubtedly focuses the bulk of its cyber investment in defending itself from cyberattack, as well as being able to better monitor and manage its own people. That mission is a clear priority in the Islamic Republic’s Sixth Five-year Development Plan drafted by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and soon to be passed by the Iranian legislature. Defense Tech reported Iran’s cyber program has “an annual budget of 76 million dollars and over a billion dollar investment in infrastructure.”

Iran’s offensive cyber capacity is what concerns the United States and our allies the most, however. On that front, Tehran has quickly moved into the elite ranks in the past few years, just behind the cyber superpowers of the United States, Russia, China, and Israel. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leads these efforts and likely has dozens, if not hundreds, of dedicated hackers at its disposal.

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