In April 2020 Hackers broke into the system of an Israeli water pumping station and tampered with the device. Individual pumps began to malfunction as officials scrambled to supply water to millions of people. After the incident, was link with Iran, officials said the damage could have been much worse: suspected targeted attack to poison the water supply by increasing the chlorine concentration. Weeks later, hackers targeted an Iranian port for a obvious retaliatory action.
“This is the first time that a country has responded immediately via cyber means to an attack,” said Lotem Finkelstein, director of threat intelligence and research at Israeli cybersecurity firm Check Point. network attack. According to him, the attacks mark the beginning of a new wave of attacks on infrastructure in the region that have already disrupted millions of lives.
Over the past few months, those strikes have escalated. A fuel supply system, a railway control system and an airline in Iran have all faced attacks. At the same time, the hacker posted the personal information of one million users of the Israeli LGBTQ dating app and revealed some details about the Israeli military. The skirmishes — included material destruction and destruction facilities – are the latest moves in decades-long hostilities between Iran and Israel. Now, they are moving deeper into shadowy digital espionage and espionage operations.
The attacks worry experts, who say the infrastructure that underpins large parts of daily life should be restricted to state-sponsored hackers. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency 16 important areas—Including energy, healthcare, dams, and food — which they believe should be outside the reach of state-sponsored hackers. Attacks come as well as Iran restart negotiations on nuclear weapons with the world’s superpowers.
Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, a visiting member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said: “It seems to be a case of the parties trying to demonstrate their ability to establish some kind of balance of power. new force in the region. who added that there has been greater diplomatic activity between countries in the Middle East in recent months.
Well-known hacks into Iranian infrastructure have been within their target range and have been attributed to both state-sponsored organizations and independent hacking groups. But they have one thing in common: They have caused chaos and confusion among ordinary people and businesses in the country.
On July 9 and 10 this year, hackers disrupted Iran’s train services and posted fake delay notices on digital billboards. “Long delays due to cyber attacks. More info: 64411,” reads a notice displayed on a railway station sign. This phone number is related to the office of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Railroad attacks, according to Check Point analysis that was later confirmed by the New York-based threat intelligence firm Internet, which is linked to a hacker group called Indra, after the Hindu god of war. The group has also carried out attacks in Syria, and is “unlikely” linked to a country, the analysis said. Check Point says that the little-known group appears to be “focused” on targeting entities “in cooperation with the Iranian regime,” and that they also hacked a currency exchange and a private airliner. person based in Syria, while threatening to attack a Syrian. refineries in 2019 and 2020.
