Israel-bound predatory sparrow hackers are cyber warfare in Iran’s financial system
Israel-linked hackers A group known as Predatory sparrow It carried out some of the most destructive and destructive cyberattacks in history. It has disabled payment systems at thousands of gas stations across Iran twice, and once burned steel factories in the country. Now, in the midst of a new war between the two countries, it appears they are dependent on burning Iran’s financial system.
The predatory sparrow, which the Persian name Gonjescheke Dalande, often present, announced in a post on X-account that it targeted Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex in order to appear as its own country’s Hattitivist organization. According to Cryptocurrency Tracing Firm Elliptic, The Hackers Destroyed over $90 million In Nobitex Holdings, this is a rare example of hackers burning rather than stealing crypto assets.
“These cyberattacks are the result of Nobitex being an important regime tool to fund terrorism and violate sanctions,” the hacker wrote on X.
The incident follows another predatory Sparrow attack on Iran’s financial system on Wednesday. The group claimed it targeted Iranian Sepa Bank and “all” destroyed the bank’s data on its connection with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, and posted documents that appeared to indicate an agreement between the bank and the Iranian army. “Note: It is bad for long-term financial health to avoid sanctions and to relate to the administration’s measures to fund ballistic missiles and nuclear programs,” Hacker wrote. “Who’s next?”
That’s what Sepa Bank’s website did. Offline yesterday However, it seemed to be working again today. The bank did not respond to Wired’s request for comment. The Nobitex website is offline today and the company could not be reached for comment.
As is often the case with the fog of war unfolding and the accompanying cyberattacks, what impact was on predatory Sparrow cyberattacks. However, in the Nobitex attack, blockchain analysis revealed some details of the predatory Sparrow sabotage. According to Elliptic, the eight-digit sum stolen from the exchange was transferred to a series of crypto addresses, all beginning with a variation of the phrase “Fuckirgcterorists.” These so-called “vanity” addresses cannot be created in any way that provides control or recovery of the funds held therein. So Elliptic concludes that moving funds to these addresses is a sharp way of destroying money instead. “Hackers clearly have political motivations rather than financial motivation,” says Tom Robinson, co-founder of Elliptic. “The code they stole was effectively burned.”
Elliptic also confirmed in a blog post about the attack that shows Nobitex actually has links to authorized IRGC operatives, Yemeni Houthi rebels and Palestinian Islamic jihad groups. “It’s also a sabotage by attacking financial institutions that are crucial for the use of cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions,” Robinson says.