The spree of hack-and-leak attacks continued in the first half of 2023. The Iranian government has become a prime target of hacktivist activists. Various hacking personas have defaced official websites, infiltrated domestic networks, and spilled top secret documents into the public domain. While the identity and affiliation of many of these groups remain unclear, they seem to share a common incentive: weaponizing the internet against one of the rising cyber powers of the world in revenge for suppression of Iranian people. Leaked documents expose the dark side of the regime – corruption, repression, and illegal affairs that the Islamic Republic resorts to for survival.
The scale of intrusion and leak would present a major national security dilemma for any country and prompt investigations to identify the vulnerabilities. But, so far, the Iranian government has only dismissed these attacks and leaked files as fake. Speculations about the affiliation of these groups continue. At best, they are dissident hackers showing sympathy with protesters. Or these hack-and-leaks are part of a larger intelligence contest by Iran’s adversaries seizing the momentum to spill some of Iran’s best kept secrets. As protests in Iran go underground due to increasing repression, vengeful hack-and-leaks will likely continue to surge.
