Iran Focus

London, 26 July – An American cybersecurity company has revealed their findings on a new “highly active” espionage group – believed to be Iranian – that is breaking into the networks of government organizations and other firms located in the Middle East.

On Wednesday, Symantec said that the hacking collective known as “Leafminer” has been targeting Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel and Afghanistan. The roughly 800 organisations targeted cut across several sectors, including energy, telecommunications, financial services, transportation and government.

Iran Focus

London, 25 July – Germany is considering new laws that would allow it to respond actively to cyber-attacks from foreign countries, according to Interior Minister Horst Seehofer when he presented a domestic intelligence agency report that identified Iran as the latest foreign power to dramatically increase attacks on German systems.

The report, which was released by the domestic intelligence service (BfV) on Tuesday, explained that the number of Iran-linked cyber attacks on Germany had been rising since 2014 and had seen a sharp increase in 2017.

Seehofer explained that the German intelligence agencies needed the power to launch counter-measures against such attacks, rather than merely being able to track and clean up cyber-attacks.

Iran Focus

London, 24 July – It should come as no surprise to anyone with even the barest knowledge of foreign policy that appeasing a brutal government does not often convince their tyrannical leaders about the benefits of democracy, peace, and freedom.

The US has ended its policy of appeasement on Iran and is now getting tough on the mullahs who rule Iran, both via official US policy and via Twitter; a move which is more than supported by Saudi Arabia, as explained by the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Khalid bin Salman, in a powerful essay on Monday.