The pro-Israel hacktivist group Predatory Sparrow claimed on Tuesday that it had hacked and disrupted Iran’s Sepah Bank.
The group, also known by its Persian name Gonjeshke Darande, claimed responsibility for the X hack.
“We ‘Gonjesike Dalande’ carried out a cyber attack and destroyed the data of ‘Sepah Bank’ of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the group wrote.
The group claimed that Sepah Bank was an institution that “evaded international sanctions and used Iranian citizens’ funds to finance the regime’s terrorist proxies, ballistic missile program, and military nuclear program.”
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Do you have more information about Predatory Sparrow? Or is it another hacker group operating out of Israel and Iran? You can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely from any non-work device or network on Signal (+1 917 257 1382), Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb, or email.
Independent news site Iran International reported “widespread banking disruption” across the country. According to Iran International, several Sepah Bank branches were closed on Tuesday, with customers reporting to the magazine that they could no longer access their accounts.
i24NEWS correspondent Ariel Osseran posted a photo of an Iranian ATM showing an error message.
TechCrunch was unable to independently verify the group’s alleged cyberattacks. We contacted two email addresses for Iranian Bank Sepah, but the messages returned errors. Sepa Bank’s affiliates in the UK and Italy did not respond to requests for comment.
Predatory Sparrow did not respond to requests for comment through its X account and Telegram.
The alleged cyber attack on Sepa Bank comes as Israel and Iran continue to bomb each other’s countries, with the conflict beginning on Friday when Israel began targeting nuclear energy facilities, military bases and senior Iranian military officials.
It’s unclear who is behind Predatory Sparrow. The group has been targeting Iranian businesses and organizations for years, posing as a clearly pro-Israel, or at least anti-Iranian, hacktivist group. Cybersecurity researchers believe the group has been successful in the past and has made credible claims.
“Despite appearances, this actor is not necessarily brash,” John Hultquist, chief analyst at Google’s Mandiant, wrote about X.
Rob Joyce, who previously worked for the NSA and the Biden administration, said that “Predatory Sparrow’s past cyberattacks on Iranian steel mills and gas stations have had a measurable impact inside Iran.”
The most high-profile hacking allegations by Predatory Sparrow were against a steel manufacturer, which allegedly caused an explosion and fire at a factory, and an Iranian gas station, which caused confusion for citizens trying to refill their cars’ gas tanks.
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