After Soleimani: The January 2020 US-Iran Cyber Alert Wave
Within hours of the 3 January 2020 strike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, security agencies on both sides of the Atlantic braced for cyber retaliation. On 6 January 2020 a U.S. federal website, the Federal Depository Library Program, was defaced with pro-Iran messaging and an image of a bloodied President Trump, claimed by a group calling itself Iran Silk Hat, while CISA and the FBI renewed warnings about possible Iranian attacks on critical infrastructure. This retrospective maps the verified incidents of that week, separates hype from evidence, and explains why agencies treated the moment as a genuine escalation trigger despite limited actual damage.