Tag archive: Iran

If you see a post on Facebook that claims the US just attacked Saudi Arabia and Iran, don't believe it. And please, whatever you do, don't click the link. It's just another Facebook scam, reports Graham Cluley at Sophos' Naked Security blog. This time, rather than playing on users' desire for free iPads and get-rich-quick schemes, the swindlers are exploiting fears of impending doom. The nefarious post reads:… Read More

Certificate authority GlobalSign has stopped issuing new security certificates after a hacker who claimed responsibility for last week's breach of DigiNotar claimed to have access to four more certificate authorities—specifically naming GlobalSign. As a precaution, GlobalSign as temporarily stopped issued new security certificates until it can complete an investigation; the company also announced it has hired Dutch cyber-security… Read More

If unauthenticated postings on the Internet are to be believes—and we all know how that goes—the attacker who was behind a breach of the SSL affiliate registration authority Comodo earlier this year may be behind the recent compromise of Dutch SSL certificate authority DigiNotar. The attacker posted an announcement on Pastebin under the name “Comodohacker” claiming responsibility for the DigiNotar breach. In the… Read More

Computer security firm Trend Micro says fake digital certificates from compromised Dutch certification authority DigiNotar were part of a broad-scale man-in-the-middle attack targeting Iranian Internet users—and may have left political dissidents, activists, and others trying to bypass Iran's online censorship regime vulnerable to eavesdropping. DigiNotar catapulted into the news late last month when it was discovered to have… Read More

A fraudulent Google security certificate has found its way onto the web, making it possible for hackers to access the accounts of Gmail users, reports CNet. The certificate is reportedly being used to target Gmail users located in Iran. The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate was issued by Dutch security authority DigiNotar to unidentified attackers on July 10. The attackers apparently tricked DigiNotar into thinking the request for the SSL… Read More

Hot on the heels that the United Nations now regards Internet access as a human right under freedom of expression, the New York Times reports that the U.S. State Department is helping to fund and develop methods to create shadow voice and digital communications networks that would enable citizens and dissidents to bypass repressive regimes' control and censorship of communications media and reach out to the rest of the world directly.… Read More

Hacker group Anonymous has leaked 10,365 “top secret” emails from Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Anonymous says the files were accessed after the group infiltrated the Iranian Passport and Visa Office email center. All the files are currently available for download from MediaFire , as well as various BitTorrent sources. Most of the emails concern visa applications for “an oil meeting,” according to an unnamed… Read More

Iran may soon take Internet censorship to a level so ridiculous one can't help but laugh. Unfortunately, it's not a joke. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Middle Eastern country will disconnect its citizens from the Internet we all know and love, and replace it with its own nationally-run Internet, which would, of course, be tightly restricted. The project, initiated by the country's communications ministry, is part of… Read More

The government of Iran has been accused of sponsoring an attempted cyber-attack on Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Skype, reports Time. If not discovered, the attacks could have left these major websites open to impersonation. The claim comes from New Jersey-based company Comodo Group, which sells digital authentication certificates that guarantee a website is legitimate through the use of a protocol called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Comodo… Read More

Cyber security firm Symantec released its quarterly report yesterday, revealing that targeted attacks to steal company data have increased. The report specifically focuses on the Hydraq Trojan and the Stuxnet worm, and the damage they caused and concern for future attacks involving each. “Past targeted attacks…are important because they demonstrate that there are vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure sectors – specifically, in the power and… Read More

In a major foreign policy address, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is putting Internet freedoms at the front and center of U.S. foreign policy, citing recent developments in Egypt and Iran as examples of how communications and new technologies can lead to peaceful political transformation. Clinton's remarks are the second time she has emphasized Internet policy has a central part of the U.S. foreign policy platform; the first… Read More

As Egyptians continuing protesting their political regime, the country’s government is consequentially stripping away access to social media websites. Earlier this morning, Twitter confirmed via its site that the country had blocked it, and Facebook has seen outages, as well as censorship of content relating to the presidential and prime minister’s demanded resignations. The protests in the country began as a call to end the decades-long… Read More

Google announced today that Google Earth, Picasa, and Chrome are now available to citizens of Iran. The Iranian government is still blocked from using the software. Due to tense relations with the Middle Eastern nation, the US chose to place restrictions on software downloads to the country. Google reports that today, “some” of those restrictions were lifted and thus, the Internet titan has made mapping, photo-sharing, and Web browsing… Read More

The future of warfare may have just begun, but rather than being heralded by an explosion, it began without a sound or a single casualty. It is the first of its kind, and could be a signal of the ways all wars are fought from now on. It is a cyber weapon so precise that it can destroy a target more effectively than a conventional explosive, and then simply delete itself, leaving the victims left to blame themselves. It is a weapon that is so… Read More

The United States Treasury Department has amended its commerce regulations granting general licenses to U.S. companies to export Internet-based communications services—like instant messaging, social networking, and email—to Iran, Cuba, and the Sudan. The move is intended to boost the free flow of information in those historically repressive countries, with the idea that improving citizens' ability to communicate with the… Read More