Mohammad Reza Farajipour, speaking in an interview with the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, considered cyber warfare as one of the branches of information warfare that plays a very important role in the process of relations between countries and noted: A precise cyber-attack can destroy structure of a country’s banks, e-government, universities and even online stores and disrupt the way of life in that region.

Saying that Iran’s strategy in cyber warfare is the same as the viewpoint of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, who said the hit-and-run era is over and our enemies know that if they enter into a hard and military confrontation with us, they will get stuck. One of the main axes of cyber warfare is to influence and affect the computing system of the officials and change people’s beliefs.

The Deputy of Cyber Defense Command said: The viewpoint of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution is: “In this war, in addition to defending and closing the loopholes of influence, offensive should be carried out and any negligence and simplistic thinking should be avoided”. Or elsewhere the Leader says: “In this war, we must stand against the plans of the opposite front, and in order to defeat the enemy, in addition to defense, we must also have an offensive plan so that the playing field is determined by our intelligence services.”

Farajipour emphasized: In this regard, in the “complicated information war”, different methods such as “infiltration and theft of information” and “changing of the calculations of decision makers”, “changing beliefs of the people” and “creating financial and economic turmoil” and “creating security chaos” are on the agenda.

Referring to other statements made by the Supreme Leader regarding the need to pay attention to increasing Iran’s power in cyberspace and the enemy’s war arrangement against Iran in this area, he noted: The Supreme Leader’s statements as Iran’s strategy regarding cyber warfare is on the agenda.

Iran’s cyber power, an important component of national power

Clarifying about the most important cyber threats in the region and the purpose of such threats, the Deputy Cyber Defense Command stated: There is ample evidence that the major cyber-attacks in the world using advanced cyber weapons are the joint work of the US National Security Agency in close coordination with the 8200th Army Unit of the Usurper Zionist regime and the British GCHQ. However, in some cases, criminal groups under their auspices carry out such proxy attacks.

He stressed: In recent years, in some Persian Gulf countries, they have created seemingly defense structures that were originally created to prepare cyber-attacks on the Islamic Republic of Iran and other countries of the Resistance Front.

Farajipour, saying that the main target of cyber-attacks is in the field of cognition, thoughts, minds and beliefs of the people of those countries and added: When it comes to defense technologies and cyber power in the region, the Zionist regime and some Persian Gulf countries have been witness to significant progress. Egypt and most North African countries are also developing their cyber capabilities. Cyber ​​power tends to converge with the power of a country’s military.

Terrible prospects for future cyber warfare

He noted that cyber threats and attacks play an important role in the US national security strategy, adding: Although cyber warfare has not been fought in the true sense of the word, daily cyber-attacks indicate the dire future of cyber warfare. Therefore, the United States, considering that if a cyber war takes place its risks and dangers will not be less than the classic war, has launched various institutional plans and initiatives in this field, and in fact, the US national security strategy has changed in some way.

Farajipour cited plans such as active “cyber defense” and, more recently, “forward defense” as the initiatives in this regard.

The Deputy Cyber Defense Command added: Given the importance of cyberspace in the United States and the future dangers of cyberattacks, the United States has reconsidered its national security strategy and added the cyberspace dimension – as the fifth dimension – to the traditional dimension of threats (quadruple dimensions of land, sea, air and space).

Saying that in the US National Security Strategy, dangers of cyber warfare, if happens, can endanger welfare and security of the citizens of the target country irreparably to the same extent of a classic war, he noted: The main threat of cyber warfare, if it occurs, is the destruction of the sensitive infrastructures of the target country, some of which are completely, and some others largely, dependent on the cyberspace.

Farajipour, in response to the question whether the cyber agreements of the countries with each other are fully consistent with the political and military alliances, said: In the case of NATO, this is largely the case. In particular, NATO made a significant leap in cyberspace after a major cyber-attack on Estonia in 2017, and established its cyber defense center in Tallinn, the capital of the affected Estonian country.

Cyber ​​defense, part of NATO core collective defense mission

Pointing out that cyber ​​defense is part of NATO core collective defense mission, he said: NATO has confirmed that international law applies in cyberspace. NATO’s main focus in cyber defense is to protect its networks, including operations and missions, and strengthening resistance throughout the member countries of the alliance. In July 2016, members of the alliance reaffirmed NATO’s defense mandate and recognized cyberspace as an area of ​​operations in which NATO must defend itself as much as the air, land and sea.

Farajipour added: Those countries also committed to cyber defense in July 2016 as a priority to strengthen their cyber defense. Since then, all NATO members have updated their cyber defense, and NATO is strengthening its capabilities for cyber education, training and exercises. Meanwhile, members are committed to increasing information sharing and mutual assistance in preventing and mitigating effects and recovering from cyber-attacks.

The Deputy Cyber Defense Command, saying that NATO’s cyber rapid reaction teams were on standby to assist members 24 hours a day, if requested and approved, added: At the 2018 Brussels Summit, members agreed to establish a new cyberspace operations center as part of NATO’s enhanced command structure. They also agreed that NATO could use national cyber capabilities for its missions and operations.

Strengthening cooperation between NATO and EU in cyber defense

He added: NATO and the European Union are cooperating through a technical agreement on cyber defense signed in February 2016, and given the common challenges, NATO and the European Union are strengthening their cooperation in the field of cyber defense, especially in the field of information exchange, education, research and practice. At the Brussels Summit in 2021, NATO members endorsed a new comprehensive cyber defense policy that supports NATO’s core tasks of overall deterrence and defense to further strengthen the alliance’s resilience.

According to Farajipour: Just as Iran-Russia Cyber ​​Agreement refers to the treaty on basis of reciprocal relations and principles of cooperation between governments of the two countries on March 12, 2001, in line with strengthening and expanding regional and international cooperation, other countries of the world, in addition to their political and military agreements, have also considered cybersecurity and defense, and entered into treaties and agreements.