Cyber-Attackers from Iran Hack into Energy, Airline Companies; Cylance
Cylance of USA has reported about hackers from Iran, who during 2012-14, have been invading the networks of a few number one ranked global infrastructure, transport and energy firms through a scam which was capable of causing physical destruction, published rueters.com dated December 2, 2014.
Cylance states, the scam hit airlines and airports, aerospace companies, energy companies, universities, hospitals as well as telecommunication operators situated within USA, England, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Israel, India and China, while doesn't mention the individual organizations' names.
Together named "Operation Cleaver," the assaults involved one string discovered inside different toolkits for creating malware that the hackers' cabal utilized while understandably operating from Iran's capital Tehran.
The gang relies on publicly-obtainable and tailored kits which helped execute water-holing assaults, spear phishing, SQL injection as also one proprietary botnet system that is named tiny Zbot, and employ other methodologies too.
The hackers' forms of intrusions as well as the data types which they seized ranged enormously.
And though there's little evidence of the above described damage by the gang, the security company is sure the end-goal of the attack was actually that, to show Iranian retaliation following Flame, Duqu and Stuxnet malware assaults. Thought to be the foremost cyber-weapon globally, Stuxnet believably is the creation of Israel and USA for destroying the uranium enrichment initiative of Iran while derailing the country's nuclear program.
Cylance believes the Cleaver assaults have their origin in Iran because the attackers utilized infrastructure with its registration within Iran to some Tarh Andishan name of a corporate house where the name in Farsi language means 'innovation' or 'invention' while an Iranian website Netafraz.com from Isfahan hosted the infrastructure.
However, this analysis isn't all for ascertaining Iran's involvement, since Cylance Director Eric Cornelius for Critical Infrastructure and Industrial Control Systems acknowledged his company couldn't state for certain the country sponsored the said hackers. According to him, there was an absolute probability some other country arranged one decoy operation. Forbes.com reported this, December 2, 2014.
Officials from Iran have emphatically said that the accusations made are unfounded and that they're built up for tainting the government-of-Iran's reputation.
ยป SPAMfighter News - 12/15/2014
