Iran’s Internet Down Amid Reports of US-Israel Cyber Attacks
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Iran has been facing internet blackouts, affecting its 90 million people, as the country’s conflict with the US and Israel continues.
Accordingly, the country has spent more than 48 hours in a near-total internet blackout data A post from independent Internet watchdog NetBlocks at 2:35 a.m. ET on Monday showed that Connectivity around 1% of normal level.
NetBlocks attributed the blackout to a “regime-imposed” nationwide internet shutdown, though the country’s government has not commented.
“Shutdowns are a go-to strategy for the regime, whose previous example lasted several weeks in January and resulted in serious human rights violations,” Netblox said.
The January blackout came amid widespread protests across the country. The Iranian government has a history Initiating an Internet shutdown During civil unrest and conflict.
Internet analyst Doug Madry has a Post The reduced internet activity on X may be due to the government’s new system of whitelisting, which makes exceptions for groups loyal to the government.
US-Israel Cyber Attacks
However, reports also indicate that US and Israeli actors have carried out cyber attacks on Iranian Internet infrastructure, including airstrikes.
A for Report From Reuters, US-Israeli actors have targeted several government-aligned Iranian news websites with hacks and cyber attacks.
Badesaba Calendar, a popular religious calendar app with more than 5 million downloads, was also compromised, displaying alerts to the armed forces to “lay down arms and join the people” and declaring “time to reckon up”.
US Cyber Command did not respond to requests for comment. CNBC could not reach Badesaba’s owners for comment.
was on Iranian state television in January According to reports Hacked, US President Donald Trump and the exiled son of Iran’s last shah briefly showed a speech calling on the public to revolt.
Cyber revenge?
As Iran retaliates with its own strikes and drone strikes against US and allied targets in the Middle East, some analysts warn that Iran-aligned groups may also launch cyber attacks.
In a statement shared with CNBC, Adam Meyers, head of adversarial operations at CrowdStrike, said the firm is “already seeing activity consistent with Iranian-aligned threat actors and hacktivist groups including conducting reconnaissance and initiating (Denial of Service) attacks.”
“These behaviors often precede more aggressive operations,” Meyers said.
“In past conflicts, Tehran’s cyber actors have aligned their activities with broader strategic goals that increase pressure and visibility on targets including energy, critical infrastructure, finance, telecommunications and healthcare.”
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