"Over the coming months, we'll likely see Iranian hackers grow bolder in their targeting of U.S. government, infrastructure, and industrial targets if a new deal is not reached."

Iranian cyberattacks burst onto the front page earlier this year when the Justice Department indicted nine Iranian nationals accused of participating in cyberattacks against American academics.The 26-page indictment laid out the case against these attackers and linked them to the Mabna Institute, an organization with ties to the Iranian government.

The indictment valued the stolen information at $3.4 billion and, while we might chalk that figure up to prosecutorial hyperbole, the point is clear. The Iranian government is already waging a sophisticated, coordinated cyberwar against U.S. interests.

These attacks took place despite the presence of the nuclear deal. It's possible that the Iranians felt that the targets weren't significant enough to scuttle the deal if discovered. Evidence suggests that Iranian attacks against the U.S. to date are only the tip of the iceberg and that Iranian hackers possess more advanced skills that have yet to be trained on American targets.

Security researchers at Symantec recently issued a report accusing an Iranian hacking group of conducting a series of coordinated attacks against targets in the Middle East since 2015. They concluded that "the group remains highly active, is continuing to hone its tools and tactics, and has become more audacious in its choice of targets."

It's reasonable to assume that the Iranians focused on Middle Eastern targets to preserve their nuclear deal with larger world powers. Now that the U.S. is preparing to reimpose sanctions, there isn't much left to deter Iran from training its proven cyberwarfare capabilities on more significant American targets.

Iran's attacks against its neighbors included the compromise of a major telecommunications service provider and an African airline. There's no reason to believe they couldn't infiltrate similar targets in the U.S.