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Iranian Spies Trained By Russia Hack State Department Officials After Arresting Dubai Executive, US Imagines
In many respects, 2015 has been the year of the cyberwars.
Over the past nine months, Washington has gone out of its way to identify a list of hacker adversaries and predictably, The Pentagon has identified the “usual suspects” (so to speak). Apparently, China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea are behind the vast majority of the “breaches” and indeed, hacking has become one of the most contentious issues between Washington and Beijing.
To recap, attacks emanating from China have allegedly resulted in the theft of a number of US corporate “secrets” not to mention all manner of sensitive data from the OPM. Meanwhile, “Russian crime syndicates” were blamed for burglarizing the IRS earlier this year while Washington pinned the blame on North Korea for a stunt that sabotaged a Seth Rogen and James Franco premier.
Now, after the arrest of “an energy industry executive” named Siamak Namazi, in Tehran, the US says the IRGC has targeted Obama administration officials with an aggressive hacking campaign. WSJ has more:
Obama administration personnel are among a larger group of people who have had their computer systems hacked in recent weeks, including journalists and academics, the officials said. Those attacked in the administration included officials working at the State Department’s Office of Iranian Affairs and its Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.
“U.S. officials were among many who were targeted by recent cyberattacks,” said an administration official, adding that the U.S. is still investigating possible links to the Namazi case. “U.S. officials believe some of the more recent attacks may be linked to reports of detained dual citizens and others.”
Friends and business associates of Mr. Namazi said the intelligence arm of the IRGC confiscated his computer after ransacking his family’s home in Tehran.
The IRGC cyberattacks are the latest sign that hard-line factions inside the regime, including the military and office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, haven’t moderated their hostility toward Washington despite the landmark accord between Iran and six global powers including the U.S. Mr. Khamenei has repeatedly claimed in recent weeks that the U.S. was seeking to use the agreement, which constrains Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions, to undermine and weaken the country’s Islamist government.
The arrests of Mr. Namazi and a Lebanese businessman with a U.S. green card have sparked new criticisms from Congress of the nuclear accord.
Some lawmakers have called for the White House to ramp up sanctions on the IRGC, a move that Mr. Khamenei has said would violate the nuclear deal.
Computer experts have noted that by hacking a target’s contacts—particularly their social-media accounts—the number of people associated with that target can grow exponentially. If the target’s Facebook account has 200 friends, and each of those had 200 friends, a skilled hacker could potentially gain access to 40,000 users—even if most of them aren’t actually associated with the original target.
In so doing, the Iranian hard-liners could try to amass a case based on people with some digital affiliation to an individual who, in reality, are several times removed as friends of Facebook friends or followers of Twitter followers, according to computer experts.
Namazi is the head of strategic planning at Crescent Petroleum Company and according to a piece WSJ penned when he was arrested in October, the Namazi family - which owns an umbrella organization called Atieh that includes advisory groups for foreigners looking to crack the Iranian market - is "at the heart of efforts to link Iran’s economy with the outside world."
As The Journal goes on to document, Namazi's detention comes after the arrest and subsquent conviction of Washington Post Tehran Bureau Chief Jason Rezaian who Tehran claims is (or at least "was") the head of a "spy ring." His family says the allegations are nonsense.
The IRGC has used cyberwarfare against other Iranian-Americans and people tied to them in recent years, including Washington Post Tehran Bureau Chief Jason Rezaian, according to family members.
In the days surrounding the journalist’s arrest in July 2014, Iran’s security services gained access to the social-media accounts of Mr. Rezaian and his Iranian wife. They tried to use the sites to communicate with third parties and connect them to their investigation, family members said.
“The Iranian security services attacked Jason’s and his wife’s computers both before and after they were taken,” said Ali Rezaian, the journalist’s brother. “Iranian authorities used Jason’s social media in an attempt to engage and entrap his friends.”
Obviously, the timing of Namazi's arrest raises a number of questions, as does the following passage:
U.S. officials say the IRGC has developed an army of cyberattackers, trained by Russia, who have focused on targets as varied as Wall Street banks, Saudi oil companies and both internal and external opponents of the regime. A spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry denied Moscow trained Iranians in cyberwarfare and said such attacks are illegal under Russian law.
So, just as Iran is seeking some $100 billion in investment for its oil and gas industry, the IRGC has decided to arrest an executive with designs on channeling money into the country and then subsequently, Tehran allegedly used his computer to hack "Obama administration personnel."
To be clear, we're not suggesting that this isn't a witch hunt orchestrated by the Ayatollah. Although geopolitical events that have unfolded over the past two decades certainly seem to suggest that siding with the Saudis and ostracizing the Iranians might have been a poor decision on Washington's part for all kinds of reasons, we'll be the first to admit that Namazi isn't likely to receive anything that even approximates a fair trial in connection with his "crimes."
Still, it's interesting that all of this began to unfold less than 30 days after Russia began its air campaign in support of Iranian ground troops in Syria and now, the Western media claim the IRGC (which has fighters on the battlefield near Aleppo) has a team of hackers trained by The Kremlin who arrested a UAE exectuvie (don't forget, the UAE has boots on the ground in Yemen fighting the Iran-backed Houthis) and subsequently used his computer to hack the Facebook pages of State Department officials. Or at least that's what the above seems to suggest.
In any event, there's no telling what's actually going on here and indeed we may never know the whole story, but it's worth reiterating that this was an executive who, according to what WSJ describes as an "Iran-focused" website, had become increasingly concerned with "gas matters."
And we all know that when it comes to Mid-East current affairs, "gas" does indeed "matter."
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Oh, come on.
Russian trained Iranian hackers to be added on long list of imaginary scapegoats Americans are fond of using to escape facing the consequences of Americanism.
As fantasy is their ultimate shelter they have to imagine other influences.
Yep, this is just one of the many "gotchas" that will be emerging in the news as a result of Hillary Clinton's "loosey-goosey" unsecure server.
If the state Department would quit using Hillary(!)'s basement computer the hacking will decrease.
In a sane non-corrupt country, she would be in jail for treason. But instead, she's running to be the next President. Is this a "great" country, or what?
If there were real justice, she would be sharing a big communal cell with Bush, Cheney, and the whole neocon cabal.
Real justice would not burden the taxpayers for years and years.
Not if they're doing hard labor to pay for their own expenses. Not creating enough value per hour you say? Then longer hours.
Thank you. I get tired of the amnesia among some around here of when and how this shitstorm began. A stolen election and 9/11. Clinton was a POS and 12 years of Hw Bush gutted this country but it was 9/11 that took us off the rails and that was all Rumsfeld and Cheney. Obama is just the puppet in chief. The bush admin and in particular Cheney and Rumsfeld were much closer to the real power brokers in this country. That is not let Obama off the hook he too has ground this country into dust as a continuation of the Bush doctrine created by Perle and Wolfowitz and the rest of the Neo-Con cabal.
Keyser Söze!
Aye Captain!!
US Propagandists Should Look in the Mirror
Keyser Söze!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyser_S%C3%B6ze
This is right up there with North Korea using a room full of Tandy computers to hack sony. The Western establishment are the clearest manifestation of mass mental illness seen in hundreds of years.
Hardly. The mental illness clearly resides within the populace that keeps believing these boogeyman tales. The establishment is evil, not crazy.
Why pay the Clintons for intel when you can steal it?
This is the new warfare...
Kinda like new math, it never gets old.
This is the new warfare...
What? The BS Lies??
Right!!
Nothing but BS lies.
2000 year old cultures vs. 'merica. Bet against the constitution every time you can. Let history sort it out.
I have a hard time believing any corporate secrets are left to steal since we gave them everything in order for them to keep buying up our debt so we could by their cheap trinkets. Talk about a shitty business model.
It's the reverse-empire model: they don't pay us tribute, we pay them.
No chance, if the hacking even occurred, it was an inside job though - right?
Israel has always been one of the top espionage perpetrators against the US. Especially industrial espionage.
TPP Hell: Full Text of Trans Pacific Partnership Released
Is there anywhere to download it all at once in one PDF. This will take forever to download each PDF separately.
"In many respects, 2015 has been the year of the cyberwars."
Cyberwars? 2015?! Hah, not yet, but we'll get there soon enough. I suspect the next major conflict will occur as much online as on the physical battlefield.
B-b-baby, you ain't seen nothing yet....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99lyU5N--f8
U.S. officials say the IRGC has developed an army of cyberattackers, trained by Russia . . . .
Isn't that convenient!
The Fog of Intelligence Or How to Be Eternally “Caught Off Guard” in the Greater Middle East
So, we don't report Israeli hacks because they own the State Department?
I am so sick and tired of all the bullshit and lies.
Remaking the World in Greater Israel’s Image - From American Occupations to European Detention Camps
'However they want to address the issue, most people are horrified at the refugee crisis now besetting Europe, with its scenes of chaos, conflict, and desperation. Yet in Israel, at least one high official sees in it not horror, but hope. As Rania Khalek has reported : “Dore Gold, director general of the Israeli foreign ministry, expressed optimism that the refugee influx will shift Europe to the right, making it more sympathetic to Israel’s ‘security’ justification for its ongoing colonization of Palestine. ‘Israel always faced the problem in the past that its national security perspective was completely out of sync with how Europeans were viewing the emergence of the European community and the borderless world that was emerging,’ the American-born hardliner told The Jerusalem Post. ‘In the European models that existed 25 or 30 years ago, it is kind of difficult to hear an Israeli argument. But now things may be beginning to change a little,’ posited Gold. ‘The European perspective is beginning to sound a little bit more like Israel’s perspective on security issues, compared to what it was in the past.’”
This is hardly the first time a top Israeli politician reveled in the great misfortune of an “ally,” hoping it will engender tighter identification with Israel. Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, The New York Times reported the following : “Asked tonight what the attack meant for relations between the United States and Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister, replied, ‘It’s very good.’ Then he edited himself: ‘Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.’ He predicted that the attack would ‘strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we’ve experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive hemorrhaging of terror.’” Sharing Israel’s perspective seems to have a self-reinforcing quality. The US response to the 9/11 attacks that Netanyahu welcomed?—?14 years of widespread, non-stop war and intervention in the Muslim world?—?is what caused the European refugee crisis that Dore Gold welcomes today.' - http://original.antiwar.com/dan_sanchez/2015/09/21/remaking-the-world-in...
dual citizens...
Just like folks in the US Senate and Congress
This article leaves me with more questions than answers.
Please do a whole article explaining hacking for the computer unsavvy, with your helpful charts and graphs.
Yes?
Then there is the biggest hacker of them all, the NSA.
We don't need to worry about external hackers - we have the NSA breathing down our necks.