U.S. Sanctions 6 Iranian Officials for Critical Infrastructure Cyber Attacks

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of International Belongings Handle (OFAC) announced sanctions in opposition to 6 officials affiliated with the Iranian intelligence company for attacking critical infrastructure entities in the U.S. and other nations around the world.

The officials incorporate Hamid Reza Lashgarian, Mahdi Lashgarian, Hamid Homayunfal, Milad Mansuri, Mohammad Bagher Shirinkar, and Reza Mohammad Amin Saberian, who are part of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber-Digital Command (IRGC-CEC).

Reza Lashgarian is also the head of the IRGC-CEC and a commander in the IRGC-Qods Drive. He is alleged to have been involved in various IRGC cyber and intelligence operations.

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The Treasury Office reported it’s keeping these folks liable for carrying out “cyber functions in which they hacked and posted photos on the screens of programmable logic controllers made by Unitronics, an Israeli business.”

In late November 2023, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) unveiled that the Municipal Drinking water Authority of Aliquippa in western Pennsylvania was targeted by Iranian risk actors by exploiting Unitronics PLCs.

The attack was attributed to an Iranian hacktivist persona dubbed Cyber Av3ngers, which arrived to the forefront in the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas conflict, staging harmful attacks against entities in Israel and the U.S.

The team, which has been active since 2020, is also mentioned to be powering various other cyber attacks, which includes a person concentrating on Boston Children’s Clinic in 2021 and others in Europe and Israel.

“Industrial control equipment, these as programmable logic controllers, applied in h2o and other critical infrastructure techniques, are delicate targets,” the Treasury Department mentioned.

“Though this particular procedure did not disrupt any critical expert services, unauthorized obtain to critical infrastructure programs can permit actions that harm the community and cause devastating humanitarian outcomes.”

The growth comes as an additional pro-Iranian “psychological procedure team” recognized as Homeland Justice reported it attacked Albania’s Institute of Data (INSTAT) and claimed to have stolen terabytes of information.

Homeland Justice has a monitor record of concentrating on Albania considering the fact that mid-July 2022, with the menace actor most not long ago observed offering a wiper malware codenamed No-Justice.

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