By Pooya Stone

It is no secret that Iran and the Taliban have been involved in covert talks for many years. Until recently, the mullahs have preferred to keep their relationship with the Taliban and other terrorist groups on the down low in order to maintain plausible deniability for attacks in the Middle East and around the world.

However, earlier this month, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), went public about Iran’s ties to the Taliban and claimed that Iran aimed through these contacts to “[curb] the security problems in Afghanistan”.

By Jubin Katiraie

US cybersecurity firm FireEye has said that cyber criminals based in Iran are more than likely behind a highly sophisticated hacking campaign on a level that has never been seen before. The hacking campaign has targeted companies across Europe, North America and the Middle East and North Africa.

FireEye is a company that deals with cyber-crime at all levels. It describes its mission as being to “relentlessly protect our customers from the impact and consequences of cyber attacks”. To keep at the top of its game, the company has to keep up-to-date with the what is happening in the world of cybercrime and it is looking into the trends across the world.