The joint chiefs of staff of Iran’s armed forces have established a new ‘soft war’ headquarters to counter threats from Israel and the US, particularly in cyberspace, the Iranian media reported on Saturday.
The Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces for Cultural Affairs and Defense, Brig.-Gen. Massoud Jazayeri said that Iran’s enemies were ‘very serious’ in their ‘soft war’ efforts against the Islamic Republic, according to Sepah News, the official public relations site of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “Therefore, we too must develop an organized means to address the fight with the enemy in this arena,” Jazayeri said.
The military leader claimed that “hundreds of think tanks” in the US are monitoring Iran.
“The enemy is trying to dominate Iran in cyberspace. They are doing their utmost to create roadblocks to prevent Iran’s progress and success in cyber warfare,” Jazayeri warned.
The brigadier-general made his comments to a gathering of military personnel at a conference organized by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Basij Cyber Battalions in Tehran, the aim of which was to equip and mobilize Iran’s national media to combat what Tehran sees as the “soft war” threat, according to a report by IRIB itself.
Attending the conference were IRIB cyber space experts and members of Iran’s Cyber Council Committee and the Basij voluntary militia, IRIB reported. The Cyber Council Committee comprises seven “battalions” – politics, culture, social concerns, media, economics, women’s issues and Islamic jurisprudence – each of which deals with issues “targeted by the West in its soft-war against Iran,” IRIB said.
The development comes amid evidence that a shadowy cyber war between Iran, the US and Israel has intensified.
Over the past year, Israel and Israeli-linked targets have been hit by a wave of cyber attacks originating in Iran.
Last week, a group of pro- Iranian hackers nicknamed “Parastoo” – the Persian word for the bird “swallow” –claimed to have seized personal data from 200 scientists and officials linked to the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA). In a message that has been widely disseminated among pro-hacking websites in Iran, the group threatened to make its information public if “a Western-favored element entertains another sip of motorbike and magnet bomb cocktail,” alluding to allegations that Israel was responsible for assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists.
In July, researchers at computer security companies Kaspersky Lab and Seculert reported the discovery of a sophisticated malware attack, nicknamed Mahdi after the Shi’ite messiah, that mostly targeted critical infrastructure companies, financial services and government embassies in Israel as well as Saudi Arabia, the US and the United Arab Emirates. The malware was spread via an email containing a fake word document attachment that when opened executed a malware dropper. The malware is designed to spy on computers, including by sending screen shots and recordings back to the attackers. An analysis by Seculert revealed that Mahdi, likely originated in Iran.
Jerusalem Post
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