Blacklisted Iranian airline targeted by cyber attack, hackers identified

Iran’s Mahan Air was reportedly hit by a cyberattack on Sunday morning, making it the latest in the series of hacking attempts that it has been targetted by. Notably, Mahan is the second-largest airline operating in the country and has been accused of “providing financial, material, or technological support to the IRGC-QF.” IRGC-QF, which stands for Islamic Revolutionary Gaurd Corps- Quds Force has been sanctioned by the US since 2011 for aiding terrorists. 

In the aftermath of the attack, Mahan issued a statement stating, “Mahan Air’s computer system has suffered a new attack. It has already been the target on several occasions due to its important position in the country’s aviation industry.”

Further, in its statement, the company claimed to have successfully thwarted the attack, however, a report in the Jerusalem Post stated that the group which claimed responsibility was successful in obtaining certain documents regarding IRGC. The same was confirmed by hacker group Hoosyarane Vatan, which in a Telegram Post, stated that people “deserved to know the truth behind money spent by IRGC abroad.” The group even went further to state that even after detecting the attack, the airlines were “never managed to drive us out of there, and our access to their network was never damaged.”

“We believe the public deserves to know the truth behind this cooperation and the money wasted on IRGC activities abroad while Iranian people suffer at home,” Hooshyarane-Vatan said in a statement. 

Iran targetted by multiple cyber attacks 

Late last month, a cyberattack targeted gas stations across Iran, leaving the motorists stranded in long queues for several hours as the government-issued electronic cards became non-operational. While it remains unclear what caused the major compromise and breach of security at the pumps that deliver subsidised fuel to the Iranians, the state media reported that the incident was aimed at directly challenging Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

The agency stated that the government-issued card punched in to buy fuel through the machines on Tuesday flashed back an error code with a message: “Cyberattack 64411.”…