Websites of Several Iranian Government Institutions Hacked During Protests Over Mahsa Amini’s Death
The websites of several Iranian Islamic Republic government institutions were targeted by attacks from the Anonymous hacking group (the world’s most famous hacking collective) on Wednesday, September 30, and the Central Bank’s website was also inaccessible for a period.
The Anonymous hacking group announced its attack on Iranian government websites on Wednesday and, by releasing a video message addressed to the Iranian people and protesters over Mahsa Amini’s death, said it stands with them.
In New York, the Islamic Republic has become the target of openly acknowledged cyber attacks.
However, Mostafa Qomri-vafa, spokesperson for the Central Bank, denied that the Central Bank’s website was hacked and, in a tweet, stated: “The Central Bank’s internet gateway is accessible and was only temporarily inaccessible for a few minutes due to an attack on the channel providing internet services to the Central Bank. In this type of attack, known as DDoS, network bandwidth is flooded with fake traffic to prevent real users from accessing it.”
The Director General of the Central Bank’s Public Relations, stating that this disruption was resolved by cutting external access in the infrastructure network and that the Central Bank’s website is currently accessible without any issues, said: “Therefore, any claims regarding the hacking of the Central Bank’s website are denied.”
According to reports, the website of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance was also inaccessible on Wednesday afternoon.
The Anonymous hacking group also stated that it had hacked other websites, including state television and radio (IRIB) and the office of the presidential spokesperson. The IRIB website went down and came back online multiple times during the day.
In recent years, extensive cyber attacks have been carried out against Iranian government websites, and in late winter of last year, the IRIB website was subjected to cyber attacks.
In August of last year, cyber attacks by the “Ali Justice” group on Evin Prison cameras led to the exposure of mistreatment of inmates by guards.
This group announced on Tuesday that it had launched a cyber attack on the website of the Command to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice.
Cyber attacks in November also disrupted the operations of fuel stations on the eve of the anniversary of the deadly November 2019 protests for a period of time.
The United Nations Human Rights Office stated that the morality police have been more strict in recent months and have used violent and coercive methods in dealing with women who do not observe Islamic hijab.
The recent example of this was the arrest of Mahsa Amini and her death as a result of beatings by morality police officers; an issue that led to widespread public protests.
Source: Radio Farda
