US sanctions Iran's intelligence minister and ministry
The United States Treasury Department on Friday, September 9, imposed sanctions on Iran's Ministry of Intelligence in connection with a July cyberattack on Albanian infrastructure.
The ministry also announced on its website that Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib had also been added to the sanctions list.
Previously, the United States, Britain, and NATO had considered the hacking attacks on Albania to be the work of hackers linked to the Islamic Republic and strongly condemned it.
The United States also emphasized that these cyber attacks attributed to Iran will not go unpunished.
The US Treasury Department continued its announcement by stating that the Ministry of Intelligence and its minister are involved in cyberattacks against the United States and its allies.
The announcement adds that since 2007, the Ministry of Intelligence and its proxy hackers have carried out widespread, destructive cyberattacks on a range of sensitive government and private infrastructure around the world.
According to the US Treasury Department, hackers linked to the Ministry of Intelligence disrupted Albanian government computer systems in July of this year, forcing the government to stop providing online services to citizens.
Brian Nelson, the US Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and intelligence, stated that Iran's cyberattacks against Albania are contrary to the norms and responsible behavior of a peacetime government.
He further warned that Washington will not tolerate Iran's increasingly aggressive cyber activities against the United States or its allies and partners.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama accused Iran of being behind cyberattacks on the country's infrastructure in a rare video address on Wednesday. He then ordered Iranian diplomats and staff to close the Iranian embassy and leave the country within 24 hours.
Tehran, for its part, has condemned Albania's move to sever diplomatic relations, citing "baseless allegations" as the reason for Tirana's move.
The US Treasury Department continued its announcement by saying that the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, led by Esmail Khatib, directs several networks of hackers to carry out cyber espionage and ransomware attacks for political purposes, including the "Muddy Water" group, which has been conducting a massive cyberattack campaign under the leadership of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence since 2018, the most recent example of which was the group's attack on Turkish government institutions.
The report also mentions the hacking group "Advanced Persistent Threat 39", which has been carrying out widespread theft of personal information for the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence since September 2020, possibly in line with surveillance measures to violate human rights in Iran.
The US Treasury says the hacking group in question is under the control of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and is linked to the Rana intelligent computing company.
In 2020, the United States announced that the Iranian government had been employing people behind the Rana company for years to produce malware and launch a campaign against international companies, opponents of the Islamic Republic, and journalists.
Source: Radio Farda
