Eye on Iran: Iranian Hackers Attack State Dept. via Social Media Accounts

Join UANI           Top Stories NYT: "Four months after a historic accord with Tehran to limit its atomic ambitions, American officials and private security groups say they see a surge in sophisticated computer espionage by Iran, culminating in a series of cyberattacks against State Department officials over the past month. The surge has led American officials to a stark conclusion: For Iran, cyberespionage - with the power it gives the Iranians to jab at the United States and its neighbors without provoking a military response - is becoming a tool to seek the kind of influence that some hard-liners in Iran may have hoped its nuclear program would eventually provide... Over the past month, Iranian hackers identified individual State Department officials who focus on Iran and the Middle East, and broke into their email and social media accounts, according to diplomatic and law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation. The State Department became aware of the compromises only after Facebook told the victims that state-sponsored hackers had compromised their accounts. 'It was very carefully designed and showed the degree to which they understood which of our staff was working on Iran issues now that the nuclear deal is done,' said one senior American official who oversees much of that operation and who requested anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation. 'It was subtle.' ... Some researchers witnessed an even more troubling trend: In the months leading up to the talks, Iran's hackers began probing critical infrastructure networks in what appeared to be reconnaissance for cyberattacks meant to cause physical damage, said John Hultquist, the director of cyberespionage analysis at iSight Partners... Some details of the espionage on State Department employees were first reported by The Wall Street Journal. State Department officials say none of this will affect the coming turning points in the nuclear deal." http://t.uani.com/1Hn9Fdd AP: "Iran's top leader said Wednesday the United States is using 'money and sexual attractions' to try to infiltrate the Islamic Republic and warned Iranians not to fall into the 'enemy's trap.' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Revolutionary Guard commanders that authorities should take concerns about 'infiltration' seriously and political factions should not use the issue against each other. 'The enemy sets up a network within a nation and inside a country mainly through the two means of money and sexual attractions to change ideals, beliefs and consequently the lifestyle,' he said in comments posted on his website and broadcast on state TV. His comments appeared to lend support to a recent wave of arrests of pro-Western writers and journalists, which hard-liners in the judiciary and security services have said is necessary to prevent Western infiltration." http://t.uani.com/1jjGYSJ Reuters: "Iran's supreme leader said on Wednesday that Iran would support the Palestinian uprising against Israel 'in any way we can', and rejected U.S. accusations that a recent wave of Palestinian knife and car-ramming attacks amounted to 'terrorism'. Khamenei was speaking a day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, during a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, described the spate of attacks as 'terrorism' that should be condemned. Israel and the United States have long accused Iran of supplying arms to the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, considered by Washington as a terrorist organization. Tehran says it gives only moral, financial and humanitarian support. 'Despite all the efforts of the Arrogance (the United States) ... and even with cooperation from Arab countries, the Palestinian intifada (uprising) has started in the West Bank,' state television quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying. 'We will defend the movement of the Palestinian people with all of our existence, and in any way and as long as we can,' Khamenei reportedly told a gathering of the Basij, Iran's volunteer militia." http://t.uani.com/1IaOrPB Nuclear Program & Agreement AFP: "Iran expects July's landmark nuclear deal with major powers to enter into force in early January, when Tehran will have implemented its commitments, Iran's deputy foreign minister said Tuesday. 'We expect it will be in early January,' Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Vienna after meeting the head of the UN atomic watchdog, which is tasked with verifying the accord. Under the July 14 deal with six powers that ended a potentially dangerous decade-long standoff, Iran undertook to dramatically scale back its nuclear programme. This includes reducing by two-thirds the number of centrifuges which purify or 'enrich' uranium, making it suitable for nuclear power generation but also for a nuclear bomb. In addition Iran agreed to reduce its stockpile of uranium and modify a new reactor it is building at Arak. In exchange, the six world powers -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- will lift painful sanctions. An IAEA report last week showed that Tehran still has a way to go to fulfil its commitments under the nuclear deal. The report said that Iran has so far removed around 4,500 centrifuges, meaning that it still has to take close down another 10,000. The report also showed that so far, no changes have taken place at Arak and Iran's stock of enriched uranium has even grown slightly." http://t.uani.com/1OgEWQ5 Sanctions Relief AP: "On the shores of the Caspian Sea, an ambitious project is underway to produce a pricey delicacy that could boost Iran's economy as sanctions ease: caviar. Iran, once the world's biggest exporter of the luxury food, sold over 40 tons of sturgeon eggs in 2000. Exports plunged to just 1 ton last year due to dwindling fish stocks and economic sanctions imposed by world powers in response to Iran's nuclear program... 'Lifting sanctions, specifically banking restrictions, will facilitate caviar exports and help the industry flourish in Iran,' industry analyst Nasser Oktaei said. 'The U.S. is obviously one of the world's biggest caviar importers. Iran caviar exports to the U.S., if materialized, will inject a new blood into the industry and bring in the much-needed hard currency.'" http://t.uani.com/1jjInZl Syria Conflict AFP: "General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations wing, was lightly injured in fighting against Syria rebels near Aleppo, a monitoring group and a security source said Wednesday... Soleimani 'was injured a few days ago' in an offensive in the southwest of Aleppo province, a security source on the ground told AFP. The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor of the war, also said the general had been hurt. He was 'lightly injured three days ago in the Al-Eis area in the south of Aleppo province,' Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. For several days, reports have been circulating on social media claiming the powerful commander had been wounded or even killed in Syria, where Iran backs President Bashar al-Assad against an uprising that began in March 2011. In response, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, Rameza Sharif, said Tuesday that Soleimani was 'in perfect health and full of energy.' .. . Abdel Rahman said the commander was wounded while 'leading military operations on the outskirts of Al-Eis, which is under the control of pro-regime forces.'" http://t.uani.com/1OgDjls Sanctions Enforcement WSJ: "U.S. authorities fined Barracuda Networks Inc. about $1.5 million, alleging the tech firm sold items to Syria, Iran and Sudan in violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls. Barracuda Networks and its U.K. subsidiary allegedly sold Internet security products; Web-filtering products, including products that could be used to block or censor Internet activity; and related software subscriptions from 2009 to 2012 to Syria, Iran and Sudan. It also provided firmware and software updates for the subscriptions during the same time period, the U.S. alleged." http://t.uani.com/1jjJ1pQ Human Rights IranWire: "Iran's Revolutionary Guards arrested nine people, including journalist Mohammad Nourizad on Monday, November 23, 2015 while Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting Tehran. In an exclusive interview with IranWire's sister website Journalism Is Not A Crime, Nourizad, an Iranian journalist, filmmaker and activist, said he was arrested in front of his house on Monday morning as he was leaving to attend a weekly protest in Tehran. He was released later that day at midnight. Every Monday, a group of activists including Nourizad hold a protest outside of the Dena Tire and Rubber Manufacturing Company in Northern Tehran. But, this time, according to reports in the Iranian press, eight of the campaigners attending the protest this week were arrested. Nourizad was in detention at the time. More than 24 hours later, the activists remain in custody, according to Nourizad, and three of them have gone on hunger strike, one of the activists told him. 'When I was arrested, they didn't even tell me the charges against me,' Nourizad said during the interview. 'But I assume it's because they didn't want any protests during President Putin's visit to Tehran on Monday.'" http://t.uani.com/1YuoEGj         Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.