iran

'60 Minutes' profiles threat posed by Stuxnet

Stuxnet took the world by storm two years ago.

The worm was different from previous viruses: it wasn't designed to steal money, identities, or passwords. Instead, the malware targeted the controls at industrial facilities such as power plants, inspiring talk of a top secret, government-sponsored cyberwar.

At the time of its discovery in June 2010, the assumption was that espionage lay behind the effort, but subsequent analysis uncovered the ability of the malware to control plant operations outright--specifically an Iranian nuclear facility.

In addition to showing that a cyberattack could cause significant physical damage to a facility, it also … Read more

Ex-CIA chief: Stuxnet a good idea

Former CIA chief Gen. Mike Hayden says the Stuxnet virus that sabotaged the Iranian nuclear program was a "good idea."

"This was a good idea, all right? But I also admit this was a big idea too," Hayden said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday night on the CBS program "60 Minutes." "The rest of the world is looking at this and saying, 'Clearly, someone has legitimated this kind of activity as acceptable.'"

The computer worm was fingered as a culprit in the mass failure of centrifuges at Iran's nuclear … Read more

Iranians cut off from Internet again

Iranians suffered a wide spread Internet outage today, the second disruption of in the past 10 days to leave millions without access to e-mail and social networks.

The latest disruption blocked access to all encrypted International sites outside the country that operate on Secure Sockets Layer protocol, Reuters reports.

"E-mail, proxies, and all the secure channels that start with 'https' are not available," a Tehran-based technology expert told Reuters. "The situation regarding accessing these Web sites is even worse than last week because the VPNs are not working."

Many Iranians use proxy servers over Virtual Private … Read more

Tor anonymity project looks to help Iranians sidestep Net ban

The privacy-focused Tor Project is working on helping Iranians sidestep increased Internet restrictions that were put in place by the country's government today in anticipation of protests this weekend.

Antigovernment protests are reportedly planned for Saturday--the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah. In response, the government has blocked access to Web-based e-mail services such as Gmail and social networks like Facebook. Officials have also, reports Forbes' Andy Greenberg, cut Web traffic that takes advantage of the kind of encryption used by secure e-mail services and social networks.

That's where U.S.-based Tor comes … Read more

Iran cuts off Internet access

Iran has cut off access to the Internet, leaving millions of people without access to e-mail and social networks.

An individual inside the country confirmed this morning that Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo email are no longer available. Ditto for Facebook. So far, the government has not made any announcement about the service interruption.

But cyber-sophisticated Iranians are still able to circumvent the government by using proxy servers over VPN connections.

"The interesting thing is that when asked, they deny the fact that all these services are all blocked," an Iranian contacted by CNET said. This individual asked to … Read more

Iran to ban Samsung over explosive Israeli cable ad?

I wish to report an international incident between Israel and Iran. And, um, South Korea.

For it seems that a TV commercial for HOT, an Israeli cable TV company, has created excessive heat beneath Iranian collars.

The commercial, you see, features three Israeli comedians dressed as women who bump into a Mossad agent, who happens to be hanging around in the vicinity of the Iranian nuclear facility in Isfahan.

He's a fan of theirs and he's actually watching one of their shows on his Samsung tablet.

So you remember that these three men dressed as women are comedians? … Read more

Iranian court upholds Web programmer's death sentence

The execution of Iranian Web programmer Saeed Malekpour may be imminent.

The death sentence of Malekpour, who was convicted of "insulting and desecrating Islam" for developing software used by porn sites, was confirmed this week by Iran's Supreme Court. The software that Malekpour developed enables photos to be uploaded online and, according to Amnesty International, was used by a porn site without his knowledge.

Malekpour, 35, was a permanent resident of Canada when he was arrested during a visit to Iran in October 2008. According to The Guardian, after spending more than a year in solitary confinement … Read more

Iran squeezes Web surfers, prepares censored national intranet

Iranians have lost the right to surf the Web anonymously at Internet cafes as the government reportedly moves closer to its ultimate goal of replacing the global network with a censored national intranet.

The Iranian Cyber Police published new rules on Wednesday designed to allow officials to know exactly who is visiting what Web sites. Before they can log on, Iranians are required to provide their name, father's name, address, telephone number and national ID, according to an Iranian media report cited by Radio Free Europe. Cafe owners will be required to install security cameras and to keep all … Read more

U.S. drone hijacked by GPS hack?

A U.S. stealth drone in Iranian hands was hijacked by using software that spoofed GPS coordinates, forcing it to land at those coordinates, the Christian Science Monitor reported today.

Hackers reconfigured the GPS system of the RQ-170 Sentinel, forcing it to "land on its own where we wanted it to, without having to crack the remote-control signals and communications," said an unnamed Iranian engineer who said he examined the captured drone.

"The GPS navigation is the weakest point," he told the newspaper. "By putting noise [jamming] on the communications, you force the bird into … Read more