SECURITY

HACKERS FROM IRAN TO UKRAINE HAD A BUSY WEEK

BY: ASHWIN RODRIGUES
SITE: MORNING BREW

On October 8, an Iranian state TV broadcast of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was interrupted for a few seconds by an unsanctioned message showing crosshairs over the leader’s face and photos of four women who died in Iran in the last month. Voices chanted “women, life, freedom” as text on the screen urged viewers to “rise up and join us.” Another line of text read, “The blood of our youth is dripping from your grip.” The urgent message displayed on television screens across the country was the result of a hack.

Since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died under suspicious circumstances days after being detained by Iran’s morality police for the way she was wearing her hijab, the women in the Kurdish regions of Iran have taken to the streets to protest the country’s oppressive laws. And they’ve met a brutal response. According to the nonprofit Iran Human Rights, over 150 people have died during the protests. Still, the Iranian people’s voices continue to be heard—women are burning their hijabs in front of police and oil workers are going on strike . But one method of protest is unique to the 21st century: hacking a news network, then uploading the results to social media.

The Iranian state TV hack was one of many recent high-profile digital attacks. In October alone, crypto exchange Binance reported its network got hacked for $570 million, malware apps “may have” stolen over one million Meta customer passwords, and pro-Russian hacking groups were able to temporarily knock some US airport websites offline.

Cybersecurity experts agree it was a particularly busy week for hackers, hacked organizations, and the companies plugging up the holes. But the public perception of cybersecurity is limited to what makes headlines—many others happen all the time.

“There were a variety of public-facing events, but organizations are getting hacked around the globe at an alarming rate,” said Nick Biasini, head of outreach at Cisco Talos, a threat intelligence research team.

Citing the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war and civil unrest in Iran, Tiago Henriques, head of research at Coalition, said it’s a volatile time in the world. The recent high-profile hackings, Henriques said, are “best understood in the context of escalating geopolitical conflicts.” A pro-Ukraine hacking group also hacked Russian television networks to broadcast an anti-war message to several channels.

There’s no indication that the hacks will slow down, even if you stop reading about them. Both small revolutionary forces and powerful authoritarian governments see hacking as a major way to send a message, whether it’s to spread dissent or squash it.

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