Iran's Islamic Propaganda Arm Targeted In Cyberattack

The Iranian Islamic Propaganda Organization and Hamshahri newspaper have fallen victim to a cyberattack, resulting in temporary disruptions to their online services within Iran.

The hacktivist group known as Edalat-e Ali (Ali's Justice) revealed the attack on their former Twitter account, attributing the downtime to a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) assault.

The incident unfolded on Tuesday, commencing at approximately 15:30 Tehran time, and persisted for approximately 90 minutes before normal service was restored. Edalat-e Ali claimed responsibility for the attacks, the primary motivation, the impending anniversary of the tragic death of Mahsa Amini.

DDoS attacks are recognized as one of the more straightforward cyber threats encountered in the digital realm. In such an attack, the target server is inundated with a deluge of traffic, overwhelming its capacity and resulting in temporary service interruptions or unavailability. Their cost-effectiveness has led various groups to incorporate DDoS attacks alongside more intricate cyber operations.

Iran's internet infrastructure has been repeatedly targeted by such attacks in recent years. Notably, in February 2020, a widespread DDoS attack temporarily severed a quarter of Iran's internet traffic, described at the time by Hamid Fattahi, the then-director of the Communications Infrastructure Company, as the "widest-ranging attack experienced in Iran's history."

As a consequence of the extensive nature of these latest attacks and the substantial impact on the country's internet network, the Islamic Republic of Iran was compelled to postpone the planned launch of the Zafar satellite into space, which had been scheduled for the same day.