Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were able to penetrate the private computer of a former IDF chief of staff, Channel 10 reported Tuesday night.
According to the report, in the last year Iran’s military launched a cyber attack on dozens of Israeli computers, mostly belonging to current and former senior security officials.
The Iranians were able to draw out security-related information but the extent of the damage is still unclear.
Iran has boasted in recent years of its cyber capabilities, managing to hack a total of 1,800 private computers last year – among those the computer of an as yet unidentified former IDF chief of staff.
The Iranian hacker in that case was careless, however, and accidentally left his email address behind, enabling Israeli intelligence teams to learn his identity. He has been named as Yasser Balahi.
“Balahi admitted he did not work on his own, but on behalf of a cyber organization, who commissioned his work,” said Ron Davidson, the Head of Threat Intelligence and Research at the Tel Aviv-based IT security company Check Point.
The Iranians stopped the operation a few months ago upon realizing they’d been exposed, but only after they’d still managed to extract information from the hack.
משמרות המהפכה של איראן הצליחו לחדור למחשבו הפרטי של רמטכ”ל צה”ל לשעבר, כך דווח הערב (שלישי) בערוץ 10.
על פי הדיווח, תקיפת מחשבו של הרמטכ”ל לשעבר לא היתה בודדת וכי המתקפה כוונה לעשרות מחשבים של ישראלים, רובם בכירים ביטחוניים. התוקפים שאבו מידע מתוך המחשבים, אולם מידת הנזק הכוללת עדיין איננה ברורה.
מקורה של החדירה למחשבו של הרמטכ”ל לשעבר התבררה לאחר שהתוקף האיראני בשם יאסר בלאחי התרשל והשאיר בטעות את כתובת המייל שלו.
“בלאחי הודה כי הוא לא פעל על דעת עצמו, אלא על דעת ארגון סייבר אחר, שהזמין את העבודה”, אמר רון דוידסון, אחראי מודיעין ומחקר בחברת צ’ק פוינט.
על פי הדיווח, האיראנים הבינו לפני כמה חודשים כי מבצע החדירה נחשף ועצרו אותו, אולם המבצע נעצר לאחר שהאיראנים כבר הפיקו מידע מהפריצה למחשבים.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards managed to hack the private computer used by a former IDF chief of staff, Channel 10 reported on Tuesday night.
According to the report, Iranian cyber hackers over the past year have penetrated dozens of computers belonging to Israelis, markedly senior security officials.
However, the extent of damage and withdrawn information remains unknown.
Iran in recent years has boasted of its cyber warfare capabilities and undoubtedly has continued to make more advancements in the field.
According to the reported Channel 10 findings, hackers working for the Islamic Republic have breached computers belonging to more than 1,800 individuals.
Victim of the cyber attacks included hundreds of Israelis, primarily past and present senior officials.
The report noted that Israeli cyber security experts were able to identify one negligent hacker working for Iran, Yasser Balachi, who mistakenly revealed his e-mail address.
“Balachi said that he had not operated on his own initiative, rather for another cyber organization that commissioned the work,” Channel 10 quoted Ron Davidson, the head of security services at Israeli cyber firm Check Point, as saying.
The report added that the cyber activities stopped a few months ago when the Iran realized that its operations had been exposed. Nevertheless, the hackers allegedly managed to extract information in one of the latest instances of ongoing global cyber warfare.