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Report: Iran Cyberspies Created Fake News Website


A cyberintelligence firm says Iranian hackers created a bogus news website and fake social-networking accounts to spy on top officials in the United States and Israel.

ISight Partners, which uncovered the 3-year-old Iranian operation, said targets included a U.S. Navy admiral, U.S. lawmakers, as well as personnel from Afghanistan, Britain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.

ISight is a private U.S. company that provides intelligence on cyberthreats.

Its executive vice president, Tiffany Jones, told Reuters that if the program has been going on for so long, "clearly they have had success."

ISight says the Iranian hackers created various "personas," appearing to work for a fake news site or to be defense contractors.

The hackers befriended targets on social networks before sending links that infected PCs with malicious software.

ISight said it had alerted the FBI, which declined to comment.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP

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