Earlier this week, almost everyone in Iran lost access to the internet, known as the “almost nationwide internet blackout.”
At the time it was unclear what happened and who was responsible for the closure. The Iranians’ means of obtaining information about the ongoing war with Israel and their ability to communicate with their loved ones both domestically and internationally were severely limited.
Now, Iran’s government has confirmed that it has ordered a shutdown to protect it from Israeli cyberattacks.
“We have previously stated that we will certainly switch to the national internet when necessary to restrict global internet access. Security is our main concern and we have witnessed cyberattacks about the country’s critical infrastructure and disruption in the bank’s functioning.” “Many of the enemy drones are managed and controlled via the Internet, and thus a large amount of information is exchanged. Cryptocurrency exchanges have also been hacked, and considering all these issues, we have decided to impose internet restrictions.”
Mohajerani mentioned the hacking of the bank’s Sepa and Iran’s cryptocurrency exchange nobitex. In both cases, a group of hackers called predatory sparrows (also known as “Gonjeshke Dalande”) claimed responsibility and said Iranian organizations were attacking to injure the regime. The predatory Sparrow is a mysterious group that claims to be a group of Israeli hacktivists, disrupting Iran’s important services, such as gas stations and steel factories.
Everyday Iranians at home and abroad are suffering from internet closures in the midst of Israel’s bombing.
Amir Rashidi, director of cybersecurity and digital rights at Miaan Group, told TechCrunch that his family had evacuated Tehran as they lived in a neighborhood that the Israeli government warned would target.
“I haven’t heard from them for two days, but someone is supposed to update me. I think everything is fine,” Rashidi said. It’s not just the internet. All forms of communication from abroad to within the country are blocked. When you try to make a call from outside, the phone won’t ring inside. Finally, you will hear a meaningless recorded message. ”
Nariman Galib, an Iranian activist living in the UK and independent Cyber Epion investigator, said small groups of people can come online because they know how to use virtual private servers as a proxy, or because “there are some confusion in the network, so they can get lucky with ADSL connections.”
“There aren’t many people who can get online,” Galib told TechCrunch. “My friends are tech-savvy so they can get around the restrictions, but in general, it’s very difficult because we have a complete internet shutdown within the country.”
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