A US $10 million reward is being provided to anybody who has details about 4 members of an Iranian hacking group.
The US authorities’s Rewards for Justice initiative is making the reward accessible for details about 4 males believed to be members of Shahid Hemmat, a hacking gang backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber-Digital Command (IRGC-CEC).
The Iranian hackers are accused of launching malicious assaults in opposition to varied important components of United States essential infrastructure, together with water services, vitality infrastructure, and manufacturing vegetation.
Shahid Hemmat has been linked, for example, to the hack of a booster station on the Municipal Water Authority in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, in November 2023, the place a pump on a supply-line offering consuming water to close by cities was shut down.
The water system’s Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), made by Israeli agency Unitronics, displayed a dramatic picture:
“You’ve been hacked. Down with Israel. Each tools ‘Made in Israel’ is Cyber Av3ngers authorized goal”
Inside days, American cyber defence company CISA had issued a warning to the water sector that Unitronics PLCs with uncovered ports to the web have been being actively exploited.
The advisory really useful strongly that default passwords ought to be modified on susceptible PLCs to sturdy, distinctive alternate options, and multi-factor authentication enabled, amongst different measures.
On the identical time, it was reported that hackers had attacked a brewery management system, interrupting the manufacturing of beer.
The Shahid Hemmat hacking group has claimed accountability for cyberattacks in opposition to services in Israel since 2020, typically utilizing the title “Cyber Av3ngers,” and has reportedly been linked to a different IRGC-hacking group generally known as Troopers of Solomon.
The reward of as much as US $10 million is being provided for data resulting in the identification or location of Manuchehr Akbari, Amir Hosein Hoseini, Mohammad Hosein Moradi, and Mohammad Reza Rafatinezhad.
Previously the Rewards for Justice programme has tried to draw responses by providing “relocation and rewards funds by cryptocurrency” for “eligible sources” – recognising that a few of these with details about individuals of curiosity could want the next stage of safety, and maybe even assist beginning a brand new life.
Ideas may also be submitted through encrypted messaging app Sign or through its Tor-based tipline. Rewards for Justice says that it reads each tip it receives, and that messages will be despatched in a number of languages.
Extra data will be discovered on the official Rewards for Justice web site.
