Iran State TV Says Exiled Dissidents Hacked Live Broadcasts
Iran has been a frequent target of cyberattacks since its atomic work became a flashpoint in relations with the West.
(Bloomberg) -- Television channels and a radio station run by Iran’s state broadcaster were briefly hacked in a complex attack by an exiled opposition group Thursday, according to a senior official at the network.
Reza Alidadi, deputy head of technical affairs for Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting -- which has a monopoly on all broadcast services in Iran -- told state TV that the Albania-based People’s Mujahedin of Iran was behind the “extremely elaborate” hack and an investigation was underway.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency earlier published a screenshot of the incident from the website of state-run streaming platform Telewebion showing images of Maryam and Massoud Rajavi, the exiled leaders of the PMOI.
The group, once listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S., has been outlawed in Iran for decades because it has long-campaigned for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. It has received support from Trump administration officials Rudy Giuliani and former National Security Adviser John Bolton, as well as some hawkish Democrats.
The group participated in the 1979 revolution that swept away Iran’s monarchy but later fell out with the country’s first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It then joined forces with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq when he went to war against Iran in the 1980s.
Thursday’s hack came hours after former senior United Nations officials and Nobel prize winners published an open letter calling for the UN to launch an investigation into the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners by Iranian authorities in the 1980s, many of whom were active or suspected members of the PMOI, AFP reported.
Iran’s currently involved in intense negotiations with world powers over how to restore a landmark 2015 accord that limited the country’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.
Iran has been a frequent target of cyberattacks since its atomic work became a flashpoint in relations with the West more than a decade ago, but attacks on its heavily controlled broadcast media are rare. The country has officially reported at least seven cyberattacks on its infrastructure over the past year.
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