Is Cybersecurity the Dark Horse for Venture Investors During the Iran Conflict?
This week in cybersecurity from the editors at Cybercrime Magazine
Sausalito, Calif. – Mar. 9, 2026
– Read the full story in Forbes
If Defense Tech is the loud winner during the Iran conflict, Cybersecurity is the quiet one, and the opportunity is just as large, writes technology entrepreneur and Forbes Contributor Josipa Majic Predin. Iran has long maintained one of the world’s more sophisticated state-sponsored hacking capabilities, and a conventional military confrontation has historically been accompanied by a dramatic uptick in cyber operations.
HackRead Media documented that over 60 hacktivist groups have been observed launching cyberattacks in connection with the conflict since Feb. 28, targeting critical infrastructure, financial systems, and communications networks across the U.S., Israel, and allied GCC states. Iranian Cyber Actors including APT33, APT34, and APT35 have dramatically escalated activity beyond their pre-conflict baseline.
For venture investors, this translates directly into urgency around cybersecurity deal flow. Cybersecurity Ventures had already projected global cybercrime costs to reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025; conflict-driven escalation from a sophisticated state actor pushes that ceiling higher and compresses the timeline for enterprise security upgrades. Startups in threa intelligence, OT/ICS security, and AI-driven detection are fielding inbound interest from investors who recognize that every government contract and enterprise procurement cycle is about to accelerate.
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