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DOJ indicts nine Iranians for state-sponsored hacking effort
This morning, the Department of Justice announced that nine Iranians have been indicted for an alleged hacking campaign affecting 320 universities around the world, 144 of which were US institutions. The individuals are believed to have been working for the Iranian government and have been accused of stealing research from the affected institutions. They've been indicted on seven federal crimes including computer fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and identity theft.
Cyber attacks reportedly cost the US as much as $109 billion in 2016
Cyber attacks are increasingly becoming a fact of life. North Korea attacked aerospace and telecom networks last year. Olympics officials confirmed a recent attack that took place during the opening ceremonies. While Russia denied its involvement in the devastating NotPetya attacks, the US has finally joined other countries in blaming Russia for them. Now, a report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers says that malicious cyber activity like this cost the US economy between $57 and $109 billion in 2016.
Iran blocks internet services in bid to quash protests
It's a busy weekend for oppressive governments trying to suppress digital communication. Iran has blocked mobile access to at least Telegram and Instagram as it tries to thwart protests that started over economic concerns (particularly inflation), but have extended into broader resistance to the government and clerical rule. Officials claim the censorship is meant to "maintain peace," but the argument doesn't hold water. Telegram founder Pavel Durov noted that his company refused to shut down "peacefully protesting channels," and Instagram is primarily being used to document protests -- Iran clearly doesn't want to reveal the extent of the demonstrations.
Telegram suspends channel for encouraging violent Iran protests
Iran is currently engulfed in demonstrations: many are protesting the clerical leadership, corruption and increasing costs of living, while counter-protestors are trying to protect the regime. And Telegram finds itself caught in the middle. The chat service has suspended the Amadnews channel after it started encouraging subscribers to lob Molotov cocktails at police, breaking the company's policy against calls for violence. The move came after Iran telecoms minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi complained to company founder Pavel Durov, who said Telegram would have to block the channel if it was promoting violence as claimed.
The surprising Islamic beauty of 'Engare'
The first question I ask Mahdi Bahrami is, "How do you say the name of your game?" He laughs and responds smoothly, "Yes, it's called En-gar-ay." Engare is an eye-catching game. In Steam's sea of gritty multiplayer shooters, pixelated platformers and cartoonish RPGs, it immediately stands out. Engare is sparse yet richly detailed at the same time, filled with looping lines and delicate curves. It's a game about geometry, art and architecture. Put simply, it's a game about beauty. "When I see these mathematical shapes in a mosque or some other places, I feel like I can see the rules behind it, I can see the mathematics of it," Bahrami says.
Iran blamed for cyberattack on UK parliament
When hackers attacked UK parliament email accounts in June, it was tempting to blame Russia. After all, it's been rather busy lately. However, it looks like people were pointing their fingers in the wrong direction. The Times has learned that British intelligence has pinned the campaign on Iran -- it'd be the country's first cyberattack against the UK, in fact. While the actual damage was relatively limited (about 30 Members of Parliament were compromised out of roughly 9,000 total accounts), the intrusion supports beliefs that Iran has become a serious player in cyberwarfare after years of being little more than a target. Officials aren't commenting on the attack, but there are a few theories as to why Iran would take this risk.
Apple removes apps from Iran following US sanctions
Apple has been cracking down on Iranian apps over the last few weeks, removing those that offer food delivery, shopping and ride-hailing services, among others from its App Stores. Due to US sanctions on Iran, companies like Apple are limited in the sorts of business they can do in the country, which is why the iPhone isn't legally sold in Iran and why there's no Iranian App Store.
Period tracker secretly gives Iranian women access to vital info
A period tracker's function is pretty self-explanatory, unless it's an app called Hamdam that sprung out of IranCubator. According to Buzzfeed News, it was deliberately designed to be a Trojan Horse, an application masquerading as a period tracker meant to secretly provide Iranian women access to information that could prove vital to their health and security. They could use it to look for more info about birth control, women's health issues, divorce, domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment and STDs. The app also notes the legal language they can use in a marriage contract to fortify their rights when it comes to child custody and the ability to work, to go to school or to seek a divorce.
ZTE will pay $1.19 billion for violating US trade sanctions
ZTE is still feeling the pain from its alleged violation of US trade sanctions against Iran and North Korea. The Chinese tech giant has reached an agreement with the Commerce Department to both plead guilty to violation charges and pay a total of $1.19 billion ($892 million in the Iran case) as a penalty. That's a stiff cost, but ZTE didn't have much choice. The US' sanctions against the company, suspended while the two sides negotiated a deal, would have crippled its business by largely denying access to crucial American parts like Qualcomm's mobile processors.
President Trump plans to order a new travel ban next week
President Donald Trump said he will sign an executive order next week that updates his contentious January 27th ban on travelers and refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries. Last week, a federal appeals court ruled to keep a stay on the president's travel ban, which has been openly opposed by leaders in the technology industry including Google and Facebook. The new executive order will address the legal pitfalls that have paused the first travel ban, Trump said at a press conference today. "The new order is going to be very much tailored to what I consider to be a very bad decision," he said. "But we can tailor the order to that decision and get just about everything, in some ways more, but we're tailoring it now to the decision."
RadiTo podcast app sidesteps Iran's censorship
Fighting censorship has become an active part of life in the future we live in. To help combat it in Iran, the RadiTo app offers programming from the BBC, Iran's Radio Farda and Radio Zamaneh from Amsterdam. As Wired reports, it's available on Android and is "uniquely suited to the conditions of the country's internet." Meaning, it apparently works on slow data networks, shows can be downloaded for offline listening and programming is in a variety of under-served dialects.
Iran censored porn so hard it broke the internet in Hong Kong
If you had trouble visiting explicit websites in the last few days, the fault may have come from an unexpected source: Iran. According to a new report from The Verge, a recent attempt to block pornography websites in the country's borders hampered access in Russia, Hong Kong and other nations in the region. What happened? Apparently, Iran's national telecom abused the honor system.
Iran bans 'Clash of Clans' for encouraging tribal conflict
The Iranian government has been censoring internet for years to keep its citizens from exposing themselves to content it deems inappropriate or radical. Now the people have been saved from another toxic scourge: The mobile game Clash of Clans. The country's Ministry of Justice has recommended the app be blocked under the auspices of protecting youth from its influence, which the government claims promotes tribal warfare.
'1979 Revolution' lands on Android
1979 Revolution: Black Friday is a powerful adventure game about a photojournalist, Reza, who gets tangled up in the movement to overthrow the Shah of Iran around 1979. And now, the complete game is on Android. 1979 Revolution hit Google Play today for Android devices, following its launch on PC, Mac and iOS earlier this year.
Lawmakers demand answers from White House over Yahoo emails
Four dozen members of the US House of Representatives, acting as a bipartisan bloc, have requested that the Obama Administration brief them on allegations that Yahoo improperly scanned user emails at the behest of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Iran launches the first part of its national data network
Iran made a lot of fuss about creating a national data network way back in 2005, and after 11 years it's finally ready... sort of. The country has launched the first phase of the network, which promises speeds up to 60 times faster than conventional internet in the area thanks to both local data centers and high-speed fiber optic lines. It'll only truly be finished by March 2017 (when the second and third phases will be in place), but the government claims that it'll be a "reliable, stable and safe" network that improves Iran's economy and overall independence.
Iran bans 'Pokémon Go' over security jitters
A number of governments are already nervous about the security implications of Pokémon Go, but Iran is taking that fear one step further: it just became the first country to ban the critter catching game entirely. The nation's High Council of Virtual Spaces wouldn't say what prompted the decision besides "security concerns." However, it comes after reports that Iran wanted to see what cooperation it could get from Niantic before taking action.
Iranian hackers compromise Telegram's secure messaging
Telegram prides itself on private messaging that lets activists escape government censorship and crackdowns, but it might have a crisis on its hands in Iran. Security researchers speaking to Reuters say that an Iranian hacking group has not only breached over a dozen Telegram accounts, but identified the phone numbers of over 15 million of the service's users in the country. The intruders reportedly intercepted SMS authentication codes and used those to add devices to their accounts, letting them read messages and impersonate others. To get the phone numbers, they took advantage of a Telegram programming interface.
'1979 Revolution' arrives on iOS following Iranian ban
Shortly after its release in Iran, the country's government banned the sale of 1979 Revolution, a game that allows players to witness the unrest as a photojournalist. Created by former Rockstar Games developer Navid Khonsari, the title combines video games and documentary filmmaker for a first-hand look at the events in Tehran in the late 1970s. The Iranian government didn't think too highly of the project, as the National Foundation for Computer Games (NFCG) announced a plan to block sites like Steam and others that were selling the game less than two days after its April release. The NFCG called it "Anti-Iranian" and proceeded to confiscate copies of the title as well.
Iran orders messaging app makers to store data inside the country
Iran's attempts to stifle dissenting views through online censorship don't usually work all that well, so it's trying a new strategy: bringing more of that data within its own borders. It's ordering messaging app developers to move all their Iranian users' data to the country within the next year if they want to "ensure their continued activity." It's not hard to see Iran would do this, of course -- in theory, this makes it easy to delete unwanted content, spy on traffic and seize servers.