Iran: Bahrain has released a statement saying that it saw an attack on its Electricity and Water Authority segment of their country in which an attacker was able to shut down several different systems. Although not assumed by Bahrain at this point, the US and other entities believe that this attack was the result of Iranian actors testing their capabilities and the foothold that they currently have in the system. Bahrain is a strategic point for the US in the Middle East and has been investing time and money into their cyber defense systems to try to be able to catch and thwart these types of attacks. The attack type that was seen resembles attacks from 2012 that were carried out by Iran, which wiped the computers of a Saudi Arabian Oil Company. These escalating attacks to places in the Middle East have been a result of the rising tension between Iran, the US and other countries.
Analyst Notes
Because of the importance of Bahrain to the US, it is possible that if Iran is behind the attack, they are targeting Bahrain as a way to disrupt the US without going directly after them.
