The Iranian government was "forced" to give the green light to the payment of a million-dollar ransom to stop a massive hacker attack that threatened the stability of the Islamic Republic's banking system. This was revealed by the European edition of Politico, citing sources familiar with the events.
According to industry analysts and Western officials, last month an Iranian company paid at least three million dollars to prevent an anonymous group of hackers from disclosing data on current accounts from as many as 20 national banks in what Politico appears to have been "the worst cyber attack ever seen in the country."
Officials explained that behind the operation was a group known as Irleaks, which has a history of cyberattacks against Iranian companies. The hackers initially threatened to sell the collected data on the dark web, which included the personal and credit card data of millions of Iranians, if they did not receive 10 million dollars in cryptocurrency, but later agreed to a lower sum.
Tehran, the Politico article continues, pushed for an agreement, fearing that news of the data theft would destabilize the country's already shaky financial system, under severe pressure due to international sanctions. Iran has so far not admitted to the attack, which took place in mid-August, which also forced banks to close ATMs across the country.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a cryptic message following the attack, without naming the banks but accusing the United States and Israel of "spreading fear among our people".
The sources explained that Irleaks entered the banks' servers through a company called Tosan, which provides data and other digital services to the Islamic Republic's financial sector. Using Tosan as a Trojan horse, the hackers stole data from both private banks and the Central Bank of Iran. Of the 29 credit institutions active in Iran, as many as 20 were affected. These include Bank of Industry and Mines, Mehr Interest-Free Bank, Post Bank of Iran, Iran Zamin Bank, Sarmayeh Bank, Iran-Venezuela Bi-National Bank, Bank Day, Bank-e Shahr, Eghtesad Novin Bank and Saman, which also has branches in Italy and Germany.
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