EU agency expects Iran to step up ‘cyber espionage’

Tehran is likely to expand its cyber espionage activities as its relations with Western powers worsen, the European Union digital security agency warned on Monday. This month, the EU imposed its first sanctions on Iran since world powers agreed a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, in a reaction to Iran’s ballistic missile tests and alleged assassination plots on European soil, Reuters said. “Newly imposed sanctions on Iran are likely to push the country to intensify state-sponsored cyber threat activities in pursuit of its geopolitical and strategic objectives at a regional level,” the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) said in a report. Cyber activities are expected “to increase in coming months,” particularly if Iran fails to keep the EU committed to a 2015 landmark nuclear deal, according to ENISA.