Tag Archive for: Iran

The internet in Iran among the worst worldwide for connectivity

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The internet in Iran is among the worst worldwide and the cause might be the government’s censorship boost.

Blocked websites, daily disruptions, slower speeds, and filtering saturation of IP addresses—that’s the grim scenario depicted by the Tehran Electronic Commerce Association (TECA).

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Fuel Crisis In Iran: Cyberattack Hits Petrol Pumps, Israel Tied To Hacking

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(MENAFN– AsiaNet News) A cyber crisis surfaced in Iran as a hacking group, purportedly from Israel, allegedly disrupted a significant portion of the country’s gas stations. Termed “Gonjeshke Darande” or “predatory sparrow,” this group reportedly executed a disabling maneuver, causing approximately 70% of Iran’s gas stations to cease operations, reported the Times of Israel.

The disruption, flagged as a probable case of sabotage involving cyberattacks, was highlighted on Iranian state TV. It attributed the station irregularities to a “software problem” and advised citizens against rushing to the operational stations.

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Previously, the Gonjeshke Darande faction had targeted a key steel company in Iran’s southwest in 2022. They also claimed responsibility for a cyber assault on the country’s fuel distribution system in 2021, which led to widespread station closures and extensive queues of frustrated motorists.

The hackers behind the recent incident asserted that they had systematically disabled gas pumps across Iran. Their motivation was cited as a reaction to what they deemed as the Islamic Republic’s aggressive actions in the region. Additionally, they issued a cautionary message to Khamenei, implying consequences for what they termed as playing with fire.

This development unfolds amidst escalated conflicts involving Iran-backed entities such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, engaging in heightened hostilities against Israel, especially during the ongoing war with Hamas.

Iran has grappled with a slew of cyber assaults on various fronts, targeting its filling stations, railways, and industrial sectors. Instances of breaching surveillance cameras in government buildings, including prisons, have been reported in the past. Moreover, the country took measures to isolate much of its government infrastructure from the internet after the Stuxnet computer virus, believed to be a US-Israeli creation, disrupted thousands of Iranian centrifuges at nuclear sites in the late 2000s.

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CISA’s response to Iran hacking control systems in US critical infrastructures is inadequate

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Iran is in an undeclared war, including cyber war, against the U.S. and our critical infrastructures. Dec. 1, 2023, CISA, FBI, EPA, NSA and the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) issued the following alert: “IRGC-Affiliated Cyber Actors Exploit PLCs in Multiple Sectors, Including U.S. Water and Wastewater Systems Facilities.”

The Iranian Government Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is a nation-state with associated capabilities, not just some hackers who support a cause. The picture of the hack of Full Pint Brewery should remove all doubt that Iran is directly behind state-sponsored hacking of U.S. critical infrastructures. The Unitronics incidents are cyberattacks on control systems, in this case PLCs, not IP networks or equipment. PLCs are used for operation, not to hold customer information. Because IRGC got to the PLC, they can compromise the near- or long-term operation of any targeted system.
Iran has PLCs (think about Stuxnet as that was an attack against Siemens PLCs) in their nuclear, manufacturing and oil/gas industries and is familiar with the operation of PLCs. The Nov. 25 IRGC cyberattack of the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa brings several interesting wrinkles to cyber war. The IRGC targeted the control system equipment, in this case Israeli-made Unitronics PLCs, not the end-users such as Aliquippa or Full Pint. Consequently, this is a nation-state supply chain attack against U.S. critical infrastructure, not any single end-user or sector.

However, this supply chain attack is not the usual software compromise that can be addressed by a Software Bill of Materials, but design weaknesses in control systems that are not unique to Unitronics. Recall, Stuxnet compromised Siemens PLCs to cause damage to the centrifuges and Triconix controllers were compromised by the Russians in an attempt to blow up a Saudi Arabian petrochemical plant. It is evident the Dec. 1 alert does not address PLC-unique issues identified from the Unitronics incidents or other previous PLC attacks. 

Unitronics

Unitronics is a control system/automation supplier. From the Unitronics website, the company was founded in 1989 with installations in automated parking systems,…

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In Cyberattacks, Iran Shows Signs of Improved Hacking Capabilities

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Iranian hackers are waging a sophisticated espionage campaign targeting the country’s rivals across the Middle East and attacking key defense and intelligence agencies, according to a leading Israeli-American cybersecurity company, a sign of how Iran’s quickly improving cyberattacks have become a new, important prong in a shadow war.

Over the past year, the hackers struck at countries including Israel, Saudi Arabia and Jordan in a monthslong campaign linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, according to a new report by the company, Check Point.

The Iranian hackers appeared to gain access to emails from an array of targets, including government staff members, militaries, telecommunications companies and financial organizations, the report said.

The malware used to infiltrate the computers also appeared to map out the networks the hackers had broken into, providing Iran with a blueprint of foreign cyberinfrastructure that could prove helpful for planning and executing future attacks.

“The primary purpose of this operation is espionage,” security experts at Check Point wrote in the report, adding that the approach was “notably more sophisticated compared to previous activities” that Check Point had linked to Iran.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to an inquiry on Monday about the hack. But Iran’s minister of defense, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, said last week in a speech to his country’s defense officials that given the current complex security situation in the Middle East, Iran had to redefine its national defenses beyond its geographic borders.

He said that meant utilizing new warfare strategies to defend Iran, including the use of space, cyberspace and other ways. “Our enemies know that if they make one mistake, the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond with force,” General Ashtiani said, according to Iranian media.

Although the report did not specify what, if any, data Iran had taken, Check Point said the hacking campaign successfully broke into computers associated with the Saudi Arabian ministry of defense, and agencies, banks and telecom firms in several other Middle Eastern countries including Jordan, Kuwait and…

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