A HACKING group linked to Israel, known as “Predatory Sparrow”, claim to have paralysed the “majority” of petrol stations across Iran in a revenge attack.
Iranian state media reported that nearly 70 per cent of its service stations were out of order today following the possible sabotage hit.
GettyOver 23,000 gas stations were knocked out of service in a humiliating blow to Iran[/caption]
EPAThe hacking group claimed to be responsible for a major hack of Iran’s fuel systems in 2021[/caption]
ReutersPredatory Sparrow warned Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that ‘playing with fire has a price’[/caption]
The hacking collective, also known as “Gonjeshke Darande”, said it had disabled “a majority of the gas pumps throughout Iran,” The Times of Israel reported.
In a statement, they wrote: “This cyber attack comes in response to the aggression of the Islamic Republic and its proxies in the region.”
“Khamenei, playing with fire has a price,” they added, referring to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has previously accused the group of having links to Israel.
Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji earlier told Iranian state TV that a software problem caused the irregularity in the gas stations and that 30 per cent of the country’s some 33,000 stations remained in service.
The hackers also wrote: “A month ago, we warned you that we’re back and that we will impose cost for your provocations.
“This is just a taste of what we have in store.”
Iranian media added that the hacker group had in the past claimed cyber attacks against Iranian petrol stations, rail networks and steel factories.
Israel has not yet commented on the possible cyber assault.
Today’s petrol outages are the first such incident since 2021, when a major cyber attack in Iran disrupted the sale of fuel.
It paralysed gas stations across the country, leading to long lines of angry motorists.
Iran accused Israel and the United States of being behind those attacks and Predatory Sparrow claimed responsibility.
Then in 2022, the same group hacked a major steel company in the southwest of the country – starting a huge fire.
Iran, long sanctioned by the West, faces difficulties in getting up-to-date hardware and software, often relying on Chinese-manufactured electronics or older systems that are easier to target.
It comes as Israel’s Cyber Unit today said Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah were behind an attempted cyber attack on a hospital in northern Israel about three weeks ago.
Israel claimed that the attack was thwarted but that the hackers were able to retrieve “some of the sensitive information stored in the hospital’s information systems”
Who are ‘Predatory Sparrow’
THE hacking collective, also known in Persian as ‘Gonjeshke Darande’, are a murky hacking collective with possible links to Israel.
Questions have been raised over whether the group is truly a band of ‘hacktivists’ or whether they are actually a team of professional, state-sponsored military hackers.
Predatory Sparrow have claimed responsibility for various hack attacks on Iran in the past.
In June 2022, their alleged hack on a major steelworks in southwest Iran led to a huge fire – an extremely rare example of hackers causing damage outside the digital realm.
On its Telegram page, Predatory Sparrow, posted: ‘These companies are subject to international sanctions and continue their operations despite the restrictions.
‘These cyber-attacks, being carried out carefully to protect innocent individuals.’
After the attack, Itay Cohen, head of cyber research at Check Point Software told the BBC: ‘They claim themselves to be a group of hacktivists, but given their sophistication, and their high impact, we believe that the group is either operated, or sponsored by, a nation state.’
In the past, various Israeli media outlets have heavily linked the shady group to Israel.
In October 2021, Predatory Sparrow claimed they had taken down Iran’s national fuel station payment.
They also said they were behind the hijacking of digital billboards on roads, which led to the message: ‘Khamenei, where is our fuel?’ being plastered across the country.
Meanwhile, the British maritime authority reported a “possible explosion” struck a key shipping lane off Yemen today.
Two other incidents near the strait at the end of the Red Sea were also reported.
It is the latest spate of attacks in the vital waterway threatened by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The Houthi movement has been attacking vessels in the Red Sea area in protest at Israel’s devastating bombardment and invasion of Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The Suez Canal shipping route, which leads to the Red Sea, is a vital waterway for global trade, used to transport energy and other goods between Europe and Asia, and elsewhere.
The Houthis have pledged to continue their attacks until Israel stops its assault on Gaza.
However on Sunday, the militia group said they would consider a de-escalation if Israel took real steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in the Strip.
The US has said it is seeking a coalition to protect ships in the Red Sea and to send a signal to the Houthi who have also been firing drones and missiles.
In late November, Iran released chilling footage of its drones circling American warships in a show off force against increased US military presence in the Middle East.
Footage from onboard the UAVs shows them swarming the US warships as they passed through the dangerous waters of the Strait of Hormuz and entered the Persian gulf.
Since Israel declared war on Hamas following their bloody October 7 massacres, both Iran’s terror proxies in Yemen and Lebanon have repeatedly threatened to open up new fronts in the conflict.
The Houthi rebels and Hezbollah are part of Iran’s self-styled “Axis of Resistance” against Israel and have been striking both Israeli and US targets in “solidarity” with Hamas.
Hezbollah in particular has been pounding Israeli military positions in the country’s north with mortar fire and suicide drones, while Israel has retaliated with warplanes, helicopters and missiles.
The border skirmishes in the past months fuelled fears that the conflict may spiral into an all-out war across the region.
Meanwhile, spiralling Palestinian deaths inside the Gaza Strip have provided an impetus for increasing Iran-backed attacks on US bases in the Middle East.
GettyThe UK reported a ‘possible explosion’ in a key shipping lane off Yemen believed to have been caused by Iran-backed Houthi rebels[/caption]
Iranian drones flew close to the US strike group as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz in a ‘direct warning’ in late November
The Iranian drones had each warship firmly in their sights