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Two recent ransomware waves that targeted Israeli companies have been traced back to Iranian threat actors, multiple sources have toldZDNettoday.

The ransomware attacks have been taking place since mid-October, have ramped up this month, and have repeatedly focused on Israeli targets.

Israeli companies of all sizes have been targeted by threat actors using thePay2KeyandWannaScreamransomware strains.

Hackers breached corporate networks, stole company data, encrypted files, and asked for huge payouts to deliver a decryption key.

Furthermore, adding to this tactic, this week, the Pay2Key ransomware gang also launched a "leak directory" on the dark web where the group is now leaking data they stole from companies who refused to pay the ransom demand,Ram Levi, Founder and CEO of Konfidas, a cybersecurity consulting firm based in Israel, toldZDNettoday.

The Pay2Key attacks are a curious case because, unlike most other ransomware operations taking place today, these attacks have repeatedly and primarilyfocused on infecting Israeli companies.

Attacks with the WannaScream ransomware have been spotted across the globe, butOmri Segev Moyal, Founder and CEO of Israeli security firm Profero, toldZDNetthat this ransomware is currently available via a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) model and that one group who rents the ransomware from its creators is targeting Israeli companies in particular.

Profero, who is one of the local security firms that are currently providing Incident Response (IR) services to the many beleaguered Israeli companies, said today it tracked several payments Israeli companies made toExcoino, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Iran.

"The overall sophistication of both the WannaScream and Pay2Key ransomware waves is very average. The low level of sophistication with Pay2Key enabled us to track the bitcoin flow easily," Moyal toldZDNet.

"Our team pinpointed an exit strategy at Excoino, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Iran. This act is very uncommon for major ransomware operators," the Profero exec added.

"An experienced operator will go through mixing services, swapping between different coins via Binance sub-exchanges such as ChangeNow, or other less familiar exchanges such as coin2cards.

"We haven't seen any of those in this case. This might indicate the origin of the attackers, though it can be a false flag as we all aware in our industry."

Profero's findings and the links between Pay2Key and an Iran-based threat actor were also confirmed today by Check Point and a third source who spoke withZDNeton the condition of anonymity.

Check Point, who first spotted the Pay2Key ransomware wave last week, plans to publish an in-depth report on its newest findings and the Iranian links on Thursday.

While payments have not been traced to Excoino for the WannaScream attacks, other indicators in the code and ransom negotiations process have also led Moyal and others to think that this ransomware group is also managed by an Iranian entity.

Moyal's assessment that both Pay2Key and WannaScream are unsophisticated operations was also confirmed by evidence from real-world incidents.

For example, in some early Pay2Key incidents, the ransomware's command-and-control servers didn't release a decryption key to some victims that paid the ransom demand, leaving companies unable to recover their files.

In the case of WannaScream, the ransomware decrypter, the app that victims receive to decrypt their files after paying the ransom demand, has also been throwing errors in some cases, similarly leaving companies unable to recover their data even after making payments.

In recent months, both Israel and Iran have accused each other of carrying out cyber-attacks against each other's critical infrastructure[1,2,3].

At the time of writing, there was no evidence to link either Pay2Key or the WannaScream attacks that have taken place in Israel to an Iranian government entity beyond any doubt. Nonetheless, the door has been left open for future investigations.

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Recent ransomware wave targeting Israel linked to Iranian threat actors - ZDNet

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The deteriorating economic situation of Iran has been due to the anti-patriotic policies of the clerical regime and the spending of Iranian funds on the export of terrorism, nuclear and missile projects by the mullahs. The regime blames all economic problems of the country on international sanctions to cover up its corruption that has destroyed the countrys economic infrastructure.

Skyrocketing prices of necessities and revelations about the regimes lies about the sanctions have forced the regime officials including the regimes supreme leader, and other regime officials, to acknowledge that high prices have nothing to do with the sanctions. In this regard, in the infighting between the regimes factions, some of the facts related to the catastrophic economic policies of the regime have come to the surface. A look at the regimes media further discloses the dimensions of this catastrophe. For example, on November 13, the regimes Farhang radio broadcast the speech of Ehsan Arkani, a member of the regimes parliament from Neishabour, who said:

Although my constituency is considered as the center of industry, agriculture, and livestock in Khorasan, the people still suffer from many problems. Our ranchers are suffering from a lack of livestock inputs. Concerning the agricultural water, under the pretext of water consumption management, we cut the water of deep wells in the villages for six months, and then when the crop is dehydrated, we allow them to harvest on the condition of paying money for the water. Is this fair, is this water management or water sales.

He then indirectly explains that the reason for the rise in prices of products is the profitability of regime-affiliated brokers so that the price of the product in the market is more than 45 times the selling price at the place of production. In this The farmer cultivates with all these problems and costs, but they do not even buy his product at the cost price of production, a kilogram tomato costs 500 tomans, but in the market is sold 23,000 tomans. This has nothing to do with Trump and Biden and has nothing to do with negotiations, this has to do with the motivation of serving and offering work to the people, He said.

In another part of his speech, the member of the regimes parliament referred to the regimes imports over the past few years and said that 85% of the regimes imports between 2013 and 2018 were food and livestock, while the regime had not supported the domestic ranchers and farmers.

By addressing the regimes President Hassan Rouhani, he said: In your government, of the $370 billion in foreign exchange earnings, $314 billion, or 85 percent, was spent on imports. Between 2013 and 2018 alone, $39 billion was spent on livestock and food, including dairy and eggs, fruits, and vegetables. This is while our rancher in the country has no livestock feed and you are not buying our farmers product.

Mr. Rouhani, the result of your promise in inflation and controlling it, turned into astronomical inflation of 41%, your promise in the slogan of saving Irans economy, became the worst economic growth rate in the last three decades.

See the article here:
Iran: Skyrocketing Prices and Government Corruption - NCRI - National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine has said Iran is dragging its feet on investigating the downing of a Ukrainian airliner near Tehran in January by not sharing information and not responding to requests for cooperation.

FILE PHOTO: General view of the debris of the Ukraine International Airlines, flight PS752, Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after take-off from Iran's Imam Khomeini airport, on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran January 8, 2020 is seen in this screen grab obtained from a social media video via REUTERS

Iran has also rejected Kyivs calls for life sentences for those responsible, Deputy Prosecutor General Gyunduz Mamedov told Reuters on Thursday, in written comments ahead of a third round of talks on the crash next month.

Irans Revolutionary Guards say they shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 by accident on Jan. 8, mistaking it for a missile at a time when tensions with the United States were high; Washington had killed Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani five days earlier with a drone strike in Iraq.

Many of the 176 people killed in the crash were Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

Iranian officials, who could not be reached on Friday, the weekend in Iran, have in the past blamed delays in the investigation on technical issues as well as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Our preliminary legal assessment of the tragedy is a particularly grave crime, where the killing of 176 civilians took place using military equipment, Mamedov said.

The maximum punishment is life imprisonment, compensation payments to the victims and to airlines for the destroyed plane. This position of ours is unacceptable for Iran, but they do nothing to provide us with details and facts for a different classification of the crime.

Mamedov said Ukraine would pursue a parallel path if its demands were not met, without specifying what that meant.

He said Iran had not responded to requests for joint investigative actions or for permission to contact Iranian military prosecutors directly.

A governing panel at the United Nations aviation agency urged Iran last week to accelerate its investigation, while an Iranian official said a final report on the crash would be circulated soon.

Mamedov said he wanted to see results at the next round of talks on Dec. 3.

We still do not have an official documented position from Iran, he said. They dont say no, but their yes does not bring a development.

Additional reporting by Dubai newsroom; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Kevin Liffey

Originally posted here:
Ukraine says Iran dragging its feet in plane crash investigation - Reuters

In an apparent nod to a potential Biden presidency, Irans Rouhani calls for a return to US commitments under the nuclear deal.

Tehran, Iran As Joe Biden increasingly seems closer to victory in the United States presidential elections, President Hassan Rouhani has called on the next US administration to restart fulfilling commitments under the Iran nuclear deal.

In a televised speech on Saturday, Rouhani said the Iranian people have faced economic terrorism for the past three years and have shown admirable resistance.

Our countrys decision has always been clear and our nation will continue its resistance and patience under any circumstances until the other side bows down to law, he said.

The president said he hopes those who sanctioned Iran will come to the conclusion their methods have been wrong and will bear no results.

We hope that the experience of these three years has been a lesson to them that will make the next US administration follow the law and return to all its commitments, Rouhani said.

President Donald Trump in May 2018 reneged on the nuclear deal signed between Iran and world powers in 2015 and unilaterally imposed harsh economic sanctions on Iran. Unending sanctions, issued under multiple designations, have now blacklisted the entire Iranian financial sector.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has promised to return to the nuclear deal and ease pressure on Iran in an effort to get it back to the negotiating table.

Iran, which gradually scaled back its commitments under the nuclear deal starting May 2019, has said it will return to full commitments once the US comes back to the deal, lifts sanctions, and pays compensation.

On November 4, when Trump seemed to be leading the election results, Rouhani signalled Iran has planned for tougher conditions in the future.

We have planned based on the assumption that the methods and behaviours of the US will not return to the correct approach, he said.

If the Americans come to a realisation that they must choose another way, so much the better. But if not, our decisions are based on how to run the country if conditions are difficult.

Iranian authorities have maintained the countrys policies do not change depending on who enters the White House, and Iran will continue to resist until the US changes its maximum pressure policy.

In an op-ed in Iran daily newspaper on Wednesday, government spokesman Ali Rabiei reiterated the stance, saying Iran knew surrendering to Trump would not only make him back down but would endanger the countrys long-term policies.

We also knew that such a policy would start an ominous tradition that could turn Irans economy and Iranians livelihoods into hostages of sanctions at any point and with any excuse perhaps for decades, he wrote.

View original post here:
Iran: Rouhani urges next US govt to return to commitments - Al Jazeera English

Havana meeting between Cubas Bruno Rodriguez and Irans Mohammad Javad Zarif to mark the mutual solidarity between both nations.

Irans foreign minister has arrived in Havana for talks with his Cuban counterpart, in a visit aimed at reinforcing their countries mutual support in the face of punishing United States sanctions.

Cubas official newspaper Granma said on Friday Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and Irans Mohammad Javad Zarif would mark the mutual solidarity between both nations, faced with the toughening of sanctions by the current US administration on countries that dont bend to its will.

In 2018, US President Donald Trumps administration pulled out of a landmark nuclear deal signed between Iran and world powers three years earlier and reimposed crippling sanctions as part of Washingtons maximum pressure campaign to choke off Tehrans ability to export its oil.

The US government, meanwhile, has also announced more than 130 measures to reinforce the embargo Cuba has faced since 1962.

Cuba will support the peaceful use of nuclear energy and technology to contribute to socio-economic development, and will condemn the decision of the United States government to unilaterally withdraw from the Nuclear Agreement with Iran, added Granma.

It said the US decision violates the rules of coexistence between states, and could provoke serious consequences for stability and security in the Middle East.

Zarifs visit to Cuba comes two days after he visited Venezuela, another regional ally subject to US sanctions.

Granma said Zarif and Rodriguez will talk about possible commercial links and cooperation with Cubas Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas.

The US embassy in Havana responded to Zarifs visit with a tweet from Washingtons top diplomat in Latin America, Michael Kozak.

Irans Zarif and the Castro regime have a lot in common: human rights abuses, authoritarianism, stealing Venezuelas wealth, and the propagation of their malign influence throughout the world. Their relationships underscore their lack of legitimacy, said Kozak.

Granma said Zarif would end his visit to the region by attending the inauguration of Bolivias president-elect Luis Arce on Sunday.

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Cuba and Iran FMs to mark alliance against US sanctions - Al Jazeera English