Iran attacked two data centers of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with drones. A third commercial data center in Bahrain was also affected, although it is not clear whether it was intentionally targeted or not. Iran has also indicated that it now considers commercial data centers as targets.
This is the first time that a country has deliberately attacked commercial data centers during a war. In the past, data centers have been the target of espionage and cyber attacks, such as in 2024 when Ukrainian hackers wiped out data from a Russian military-linked data center. But this time the attack was carried out directly from the drone, due to which the buildings were damaged.
Iran had threatened 18 tech companies
The Iranian Army (IRGC) had threatened 18 American tech companies in Arabia. Iran has said that these companies are involved in the Iran-America war. IRGC said that employees of these companies should stay away from the office. Will attack from 8 pm tomorrow night. Let us tell you that the American companies which Iran has threatened include companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Intel, IBM, Tesla and Boeing.
IRGC has issued a statement saying that in response to any terrorist attack in Iran, they will completely destroy selected companies and their units. This warning will be considered effective from 8 pm Tehran time (10:30 pm Indian time) on April 1. He has advised the employees working in these companies to leave their offices or workplaces immediately to save their lives.
Use of AI increases importance of data center
With the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the importance of data centers has increased a lot. Especially the American Army is using AI in its operations and decisions. In such a situation, it is believed that Iran is targeting those infrastructures which it considers to be related to the actions being taken against it.
However, it is not clear whether the data centers that were attacked were directly being used by the US Army or not. It is also possible that Iran may have targeted UAE because of its relations with America.
Importance of data center and cloud
In today’s time, data centers are the real place of cloud. When you watch a show on Netflix or use something online, that data comes from these centers. If data centers like AWS are closed, entertainment, banking and government services may also be affected.
In the era of AI, data centers have become a very important infrastructure. They not only run the internet but also support AI systems. The attack in UAE also affected the banking system there, which made its importance even more clear.
Impact on America and allied countries
According to reports, America usually keeps its sensitive data in its own country or at defense bases. Nevertheless, Iran’s military claimed that these attacks were carried out on data centers supporting enemy military and intelligence activities.
Some experts believe that this attack could be not only for military reasons, but also to send a message of increasing technical cooperation between UAE and America.
Data centers becoming easy targets
Data centers are large, not very secure and do not have air defense, so they can become easy targets for attacks. Thousands of missiles and drones were also fired in the attacks in UAE, of which only a few were able to reach the data center.
What next?
In the future, as the use of AI and cloud increases, data centers can become important targets in war. This is a clear indication that technology infrastructure can also become a part of war in the coming times.