In the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death on Sep 16 2022, the international hacktivist group Anonymous launched a new campaign called Op Iran against Iran’s online infrastructure. OpIran also continue to support the “No to Executions” movement and stands with protesters in Iran. OpIran tactics include DDoS attacks, website defacements and data breaches.
Date founded:
OpIran was launched in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022.
Affiliation:
Social media handles/websites:
X – @anonymousopiran
Telegram – t.me/anonopiran
Previous operations:
September 21 2022 – Series of DDoS attacks on Iranian state institutions including the National Government Portal of Iran, the Central Bank of Iran website, the Government Spokesman Office website, Ali Khamenei’s official website and the IRIB official website. At the time of the hack these websites were inaccessible. The same week the hackers hijacked over 300 Iranian cameras by exploiting security vulnerabilities. Anonymous also encouraged Iranians to use the Tor browser to bypass censorship.
September 2022 – Hack of Irans Forensic Research Center – targeted Iran’s Forensic Research Center and managed to successfully deface the Center’s domains and leak a database containing 100MB worth of data. This data contained names, email addresses, logs and IP addresses of the Center. This hack was the first major Iranian institution to suffer a cyber attack from Anonymous hackers.
Hacked Iran’s Assembly and leaked the details of government officials.
Worked with United Against Nuclear Iran to provide them with documents related to nuclear activities, money laundering and operations of the Islamic Republic.
Hack of the Presidency Plan and Budget Organization.
Tactics/Techniques/Tradecraft/Procedures (TTP’s):
- DDoS attacks on Iranian government websites
- Data breaches and social engineering attacks
Sources:
united4iran.org/blog/opiran-anonymous-techies-attack-government-websites-after-sites-call-for-violent-executions/
iranhumanrights.org/2011/02/government-website-calls-to-violence-and-executions-unleash-attacks-from-hackers/
hackread.com/opiran-anonymous-iran-state-sites-cctv-camera-hack/
themoloch.com/conflict/opiran-how-hacktivism-is-shaping-irans-protests
