Iran foiled a significant cyber-attack against the
country’s “electronic infrastructure,” according
to Iranian Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi.
The minister shared few details about the incident, which
took place during Iran’s current Internet blackout that allows most people to
access only websites hosted inside the borders.
The attacks follow the government crackdown on widespread
protests in Tehran, which were used as a pretext to impose blackout in the
first place. The attacker would have needed access to the network, despite the
blackout.
Moreover, the incident comes only three days after
details for 15 million debit cards, covering one-fifth of the entire Iranian
population, were published online. It’s unclear whether that hack and the
current incident are related. A New York Times report
linked the bank hack to the US or Israeli agencies.
A message posted on Telegram said, “we will burn the
reputation of their banks the same way we torched their banks,” in reference to
the protest in which numerous bank branches were torched. The Iranian
authorities say that no hackers were involved in the breach and that it was the
work of a disgruntled employee.
Iran is often suspected of sponsoring state-backed
cyberattacks, with the group APT 33 believed to be involved directly with the
government. If the minister’s statements are true, Iran is now on the receiving
end.