Iran Likely Sponsoring Cyber Espionage Group Targeting Domestic, Foreign Persons - Report
The APT42 cyber espionage group is very likely sponsored by Iran to target individuals and organizations at home and abroad, a report by the US cybersecurity firm Mandiant revealed on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th September, 2022) The APT42 cyber espionage group is very likely sponsored by Iran to target individuals and organizations at home and abroad, a report by the US cybersecurity firm Mandiant revealed on Wednesday.
"Mandiant assesses with high confidence that APT42 is an Iranian state-sponsored cyber espionage group tasked with conducting information collection and surveillance operations against individuals and organizations of strategic interest to the Iranian government," the report said.
The cybersecurity firm said in the report it has "moderate confidence" in its assessment that the APT42 group� operates on behalf of the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC).
Mandiant found that the cyber espionage group had been active since at least 2015 and had sought to hack the e-mail accounts of Western government officials, former Iranian policymakers or political figures, members of the Iranian diaspora and opposition groups, Western journalists, think tanks and academics who studied Iran, the report said.
The group has deployed mobile malware that could track locations, record phone conversations and access messages, photos and videos, the report added.
Mandiant is warning that APT24 is flexible and able to quickly react as Iran's strategic priorities evolved, such as targeting the pharmaceutical sector in March 2020 during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report.