U.S. says Iranian ‘MuddyWater’ cyber actors targeting various sectors worldwide

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iran-linked cyber operations are targeting a range of government and private-sector organizations in multiple sectors across Asia, Africa, Europe and North America, U.S. security and law enforcement agencies said in an notice on Thursday.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), along with British and other U.S. authorities, said they had observed Iranian actors known as “MuddyWater” conducting malicious cyber operations targeting telecommunications, defense, local government, and the oil and natural gas sectors.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York rejected “these baseless allegations and believes these allegations are part and parcel of the psychological warfare waged against Iran and of no factual or legal value whatsoever,” a spokesman said.

(Reporting by Tim Ahmann, Katharine Jackson and Michelle Nichols; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)