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Hackers backing Tehran have targeted U.S. banks, defense contractors and oil industry companies following American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilitiesbut so far have not caused widespread disruptions to critical infrastructure or the economy.But that could change if the ceasefire between Iran and Israel collapses or if independent hacking groups supporting Iran make good on promises to wage their own digital conflict against the U.S., analysts and cyber experts say.The U.S. strikes could even prompt Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea to double down on investments in cyberwarfare, according to Arnie Bellini, a tech entrepreneur and investor.Bellini noted that hacking operations are much cheaper than bullets, planes or nuclear armswhat defense analysts call kinetic warfare. America may be militarily dominant, he said, but its reliance on digital technology poses a vulnerability.“We just showed the world: You don’t want to mess with us kinetically,” said Bellini, CEO of Bellini Capital. “But we are wide open digitally. We are like Swiss cheese.” Hackers have hit banks and defense contractors Two pro-Palestinian hacking groups claimed they targeted more than a dozen aviation firms, banks and oil companies following the U.S. strikes over the weekend.The hackers detailed their work in a post on the Telegram messaging service and urged other hackers to follow their lead, according to researchers at the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks the groups’ activity.The attacks were denial-of-service attacks, in which a hacker tries to disrupt a website or online network.“We increase attacks from today,” one of the hacker groups, known as Mysterious Team, posted Monday.Federal authorities say they are on guard for additional attempts by hackers to penetrate U.S. networks.The Department of Homeland Security issued a public bulletin Sunday warning of increased Iranian cyber threats. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a statement Tuesday urging organizations that operate critical infrastructure like water systems, pipelines or power plants to stay vigilant.While it lacks the technical abilities of China or Russia, Iran has long been known as a “chaos agent” when it comes to using cyberattacks to steal secrets, score political points or frighten opponents.Cyberattacks mounted by Iran’s government may end if the ceasefire holds and Tehran looks to avoid another confrontation with the U.S. But hacker groups could still retaliate on Iran’s behalf.In some cases, these groups have ties to military or intelligence agencies. In other cases, they act entirely independently. More than 60 such groups have been identified by researchers at the security firm Trustwave.These hackers can inflict significant economic and psychological blows. Following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, for instance, hackers penetrated an emergency alert app used by some Israelis and directed it to inform users that a nuclear missile was incoming.“It causes an immediate psychological impact,” said Ziv Mador, vice president of security research at Trustwave’s SpiderLabs, which tracks cyberthreats.Economic disruption, confusion and fear are all the goals of such operations, said Mador, who is based in Israel. “We saw the same thing in Russia-Ukraine.” Collecting intelligence is another aim for hackers While Iran lacks the cyberwarfare capabilities of China or Russia, it has repeatedly tried to use its more modest operations to try to spy on foreign leaderssomething national security experts predict Tehran is almost certain to try again as it seeks to suss out President Donald Trump’s next moves.Last year, federal authorities charged three Iranian operatives with trying to hack Trump’s presidential campaign. It would be wrong to assume Iran has given up those efforts, according to Jake Williams, a former National Security Agency cybersecurity expert who is now vice president of research and development at Hunter Strategy, a Washington-based cybersecurity firm.“It’s fairly certain that these limited resources are being used for intelligence collection to understand what Israel or the U.S. might be planning next, rather than performing destructive attacks against U.S. commercial organizations,” Williams said. The Trump administration has cut cybersecurity programs and staff Calls to bolster America’s digital defense come as the Trump administration has moved to slash some cybersecurity programs as part of its effort to shrink the size of government.CISA has placed staffers who worked on election security on leave and cut millions of dollars in funding for cybersecurity programs for local and state elections.The CIA, NSA and other intelligence agencies also have seen reductions in staffing. Trump abruptly fired Gen. Timothy Haugh, who oversaw the NSA and the Pentagon’s Cyber Command.The Israel-Iran conflict shows the value of investments in cybersecurity and cyber offense, Mador said. He said Israel’s strikes on Iran, which included attacks on nuclear scientists, required sophisticated cyberespionage that allowed Israel to track its targets.Expanding America’s cyber defenses will require investments in education as well as technical fixes to ensure connected devices or networks aren’t vulnerable, said Bellini, who recently contributed $40 million toward a new cybersecurity center at the University of South Florida.There is a new arms race when it comes to cyberwar, Bellini said, and it’s a contest America can’t afford to lose.“It’s Wile E. Coyote vs. the Road Runner,” Bellini said. “It will go back and forth, and it will never end.” David Klepper, Associated Press
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Whos monitoring the situation right now? As headlines continue to be dominated by news of missile attacks, retaliations, and calls for ceasefire, there are no shortage of situations to monitor. And X users are responding to the call to arms. Me monitoring the situation with the boys, one X post reads. I bet hes texting other women, reads another. She doesnt know Im monitoring the situation. A third wrote: I never see you at the club. I never see you monitoring the situation. me monitoring the situation with the boys pic.twitter.com/eiLA7lrOUF— Memelord Technologies (@memelordtech) June 14, 2025 The meme speaks to the compulsion to continually refresh social media during times of political turmoilpulling down at the top of the scroll for the next update. Its not doomscrolling; its monitoring the situation. This isnt the first time the meme has surfaced on social media. The idea of monitoring the situation has been used in memes throughout the 2010s, making it hard to pin down exactly when the first known meme to use the phrase was uploaded online, Phillip Hamilton wrote on the website Know Your Meme. Now, its experiencing a resurgence on X following Israels military strikes against Iran, which were followed by U.S. strikes and, most recently, Irans missile attack on a U.S. base in Qatar. In the aftermath, Google searches for is the US going to war spiked nearly 5,000%, while World War III searches surged almost 2,000%, according to Google Trends. Reddit threads like Is WW3 slowly happening? and Do you think World War 3 is a real possibility? have been flooded with anxious users. Over on TikTok, users took a predictably unserious approach to the collective anxiety over global events. First war, whats the dress code, one post reads over footage of missiles flying overhead. When I get drafted into WW3 but they let me bring my AirPods, another viral post reads, soundtracked to Taylor Swift. @mikaelarellano RATATATATATA #taylorswift #swiftie #ww3 I Did Something Bad – Taylor Swift While the fears felt by people around the world as the situation continues to unfold are genuine and warrantedas those who grew up witnessing U.S. invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan can attestusing memes as a coping mechanism is nothing new. As one X user put it: Men will literally monitor the situation instead of going to therapy.”
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After experimenting with AI judges at the Winter X Games six months ago, Jeremy Bloom, CEO of the X Games, is launching an entirely new company based around the technology, and has pulled in some top-tier talent to lead it. Owl AI, an AI platform designed to judge and referee sporting events, is officially launching following an $11 million seed funding round, led by S32, with additional participation from Menlo Ventures and Susa Ventures. Josh Gwyther, the former Head of AI at Google Cloud, will be the new companys CEO, leaving Google after nearly a decade. Bloom, who is Owl AIs executive chairman and a former Olympic skier and NFL player, says that the companys creation was, in a word, accidental, as it was originally a sort of experiment between the X Games and Google cofounder Sergey Brin, who tasked Google AI engineers with developing AI judges for snowboarding competitions. That was enough to garner a whole lot of attention from athletes and sports leagues alike, and now that the technology has proven itself, the potential applications are far-reaching. When I initially reached out to Sergey, Bloom says, this idea had been on my mind since I was a competitor a couple of decades ago. Sergey was excited about it, too, and introduced me to Josh. They created the initial model in six weeks and deployed it at the Winter X Games in January. Now, with five more months to marinate, itll be used again at the Summer X Games in Salt Lake City this weekend. Ive been focused on generative AI for the last four and a half years, says Gwyther, and Owl AI blends two things that I love: sports and AI. So, making the move was a no-brainer. It was an easy decision to make. Owl AIs initial purpose was to judge athletes and assign them scores, removing the potential for bias or corruption that may exist with human judges. But theres more to it than that, as it can be used as a referee or judge, it can also score and coach individual athletes, and can also be used as a color commentator in nearly any language. Our macro goal is to make sure human error never decides the outcome of a game, competition, or sporting event ever again, says Bloom. These moments are hard for fans, devastating for athletes, and have monumental impacts for leagues. He notes some examples from the NFL, such as the notorious Fail Mary, or an instance in which a blown call cost the New Orleans Saints a potential berth in the Super Bowl. While Owl AI is not necessarily designed to replace human judges or referees, it can help them do their jobs, and hopefully, make better decisions on the field, the mountain, or on the baseball diamond. As such, other leagues are already talking to the company about potential partnerships. We have five or six ongoing conversations with pro leagues, says Bloom. While nothing is official, both Bloom and Gwyther are excited about the future of the company, especially given how far the technology has advanced in a short period of time. What we did in Aspen was only five months ago. What were doing in Salt Lake City couldnt have been done at that time, Bloom says, regarding how the AI tech has evolved with remarkable speed. Im excited.
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