00:00Iran just unlocked a new military target, the cloud.
00:04Drone attacks hit data centers by Amazon Web Services in the UAE
00:08and damaged infrastructure near a data center in Bahrain.
00:12But why?
00:13According to Iranian news agencies,
00:16the Islamic Republic claimed that the AWS centers
00:18are also supporting the enemy's military and intelligence activities.
00:23It can include security or military-related activity.
00:26I couldn't speak to what these particular data centers were involved in,
00:30but because these data centers represent important strategic investment
00:34and part of large growing partnerships between the U.S. and the Gulf states,
00:38hitting this does have a symbolic as well as potentially practical significance.
00:43It is doubtful that the attacks will significantly slow down
00:46the U.S. military's use of AI models.
00:49Those systems run on a multi-layered infrastructure
00:51designed for speed, security, and survivability.
00:55But there could be other motives,
00:58including targeting the broader AI economy.
01:00The potential for economic and strategic damage is greater
01:04now that many industries are relying on AI as part of their workflows.
01:08The attacks disrupted the daily life of consumers,
01:11causing outages affecting delivery apps and payment services.
01:15That kind of disruption could undermine support
01:17for U.S. military actions in the region.
01:20There's been an adage in the last few years
01:22about data being the new oil.
01:25And if we're seeing attacks on oil fields
01:27and we're seeing attacks on data centers,
01:28then we can see yet another way in which this is coming true.
Comments