Tehran is now being blamed for instigating a series of cyber assaults that saw thousands of people, including MPs and executives, have their personal details compromised.
Iranian hackers are believed to have been behind the series of cyber-attacks that targeted the UK’s national infrastructure. It has been claimed.
The attacks are said to have taken place right before Christmas.
The hackers targeted many parts of UK infrastructure, including several government organizations, Private Sector companies, and banks, in what has been described as an ‘ongoing’ hacking campaign.
Sky news learnt that both the Post Office and some local government networks were hit in the coordinated attacks that occurred on December 23.
The National Cyber Security Centre stated it was “aware of a cyber-incident affecting some UK organizations in late 2018″.
To which it added that it was “working with victims and advising on mitigation measures.”
Personal details of several Post Employees were stolen, which included the email address and mobile phone number of Chief Executive Paula Vennells.
A group connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were held responsible after cybersecurity experts in California came to this conclusion.
It was also revealed that the same group of hackers was responsible for the high profile cyber-attack on Britain’s parliamentary network in 2017.
Russia, China, and North Korea were thought to have been responsible for carrying out the attack, but investigators were quick to trace the source of the hit to the Tehran regime, according to The Times.
Sky news learnt that 10,204, data records were compromised from the parliament global address lists during the course of that attack, including several company positions, addresses, and phone numbers.
Sources believe that the recent attack aimed to weaken and destabilize the UK and to instill fear in the masses that their lives could be in possible danger by attacking emergency services.
High tech companies have also been targeted to try and steal their new inventions.
A similar incident occurred 10 years ago when a British aviation tech company lost millions after a foreign country stole a breakthrough wing design.
US Banks Compromised
Last month, Iranian hackers had renewed damaging attacks on the US after several clashes between the two countries.
Several high profile American banks, businesses, and government departments have reportedly been the target of computer spooks in recent weeks.
In a report by the US intelligence chiefs last month, it was warned that China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia were all planning to increase network attacks.
The report stated that they would “increasingly use cyber operations to threaten both minds and machines in an expanding number of ways – to steal information, to influence our citizens, or to disrupt critical infrastructure.”
It was also added that were already targeting government agencies “to gain intelligence and position themselves for future cyber operations.”
According to the New York Times, recent hacking targets include Boeing, General Electric Aviation and T-Mobile.
Moreover, as a result of the tensions between China and the US over the South China Sea and brutal trade war, Chinese hackers are reviving their attempts to steal military tech from the US.
This news follows the revelation that Iran was all set to launch cyber-attacks on the west after the US withdrew from the nuclear deal.
Probable targets of the attack include banks, energy companies, and government departments. The same targets affected by the Iranian hacking that took place in 2012 and 2014.
It is believed that the planning for such attack was probably already underway, according to the intelligence received by cybersecurity firm, Recorded Future.
“Iran will likely respond quickly by launching destructive attacks on American, European, and rival nation (such as Saudi Arabia and Israel) businesses,” its report said.