New NTAS Bulletin warns ‘low-level cyber attacks’ against U.S. networks ‘likely’ after strikes on Iran

“Low-level cyber attacks” directed at U.S. networks are “likely” after the United States bombed nuclear sites in Iran and the potential for physical attacks in retaliation for the strikes hinges on the response of Islamic Republic leaders and proxies’ plans, a National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin warned today.

“The conflict could also motivate violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators seeking to attack targets perceived to be Jewish, pro-Israel, or linked to the U.S. government or military in the Homeland,” the NTAS Bulletin states, stressing that “multiple recent Homeland terrorist attacks have been motivated by anti-Semitic or anti-Israel sentiment, and the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict could contribute to U.S.-based individuals plotting additional attacks.”

The bulletin comes on the heels of jurisdictions already expressing a heightened state of awareness. “We’re tracking the situation unfolding in Iran,” the NYPD said Saturday night on X. “Out of an abundance of caution, we’re deploying additional resources to religious, cultural, and diplomatic sites across NYC and coordinating with our federal partners. We’ll continue to monitor for any potential impact to NYC.”

The NTAS Bulletin expires in three months, a time period in which ongoing conflict with Iran is anticipated to continue to cause “a heightened threat environment” in the U.S.

The Saturday strikes from B-2 stealth bombers hit Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan and inflicted significant damage that “devastated the Iranian nuclear program,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at a joint press conference with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine today at the Pentagon.

Israeli news channel i24 reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned “there will be consequences for the events,” and Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said “there is no longer any place for America or its bases in this region” and that the U.S. must “expect irreparable consequences.”

Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) identified and has “put under surveillance” sites connected to the B-2 flights and said U.S. bases in the region are “doubly vulnerable.”

Caine said that “well prior” to the “Operation Midnight Hammer” strike CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Kurilla “elevated force protection measures across the region, especially in Iraq, Syria and the Gulf.”

“Our forces remain on high alert and are fully postured to respond to any Iranian retaliation or proxy attacks, which would be an incredibly poor choice,” Caine told reporters. “We will defend ourselves. The safety of our service members and civilians remains our highest priority.”

The last NTAS bulletin expired in November 2023 and centered on threats from lone offenders and small groups associated with domestic violent extremist ideologies and foreign terrorist organizations.

The new bulletin warns that “cyber actors affiliated with the Iranian government may conduct attacks against U.S. networks” as “both hacktivists and Iranian government-affiliated actors routinely target poorly secured U.S. networks and Internet-connected devices for disruptive cyber attacks.”

U.S. government officials may be targeted with motivation reaching back to the January 2020 killing of IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, the bulletin says.

“The likelihood of violent extremists in the Homeland independently mobilizing to violence in response to the conflict would likely increase if Iranian leadership issued a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence against targets in the Homeland,” the NTAS warns.

The bulletin notes that since 2020 U.S. law enforcement officials have disrupted “multiple potentially lethal Iranian-backed plots.” Foreign terrorist organizations connected to Iran — including Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis (Ansarullah), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — have issued responses since Israel’s June 13 initial strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and government officials, and some of the groups have “called for violence against U.S. assets and personnel in the Middle East because of Israel’s attack,” the NTAS adds.

After the U.S. strikes on Iran, the Political Bureau of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement issued a statement urging “united jihad and resistance” against the U.S. and Israel, semi-official Iranian news agency Mehr reported.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS’ “Face the Nation” today that the U.S. intends to “impose costs on Iran if they attack American personnel, whether they do it directly, or whether they do it through some of these proxies that they try to hide behind, and that includes the Houthis, so — another proxy of theirs.”