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2021-07-16 Cyber
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Facebook: Iran-based spies targeted US, European defense workers
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[IsraelTimes] Social media firm’s cyber-espionage investigations chief says some malicious code used in ’well-resourced operation’ was developed by company with ties to Revolutionary Guards
Facebook said on Thursday that it has disrupted an Iran-based espionage operation targeting defense and aerospace workers in Europa
 ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and the United States.
Fake accounts posing as company job recruiters or employees were used to dupe targets, according to head of cyber espionage investigations Mike Dvilyanski.
"This effort was highly targeted," Dvilyanski said in a telephone briefing.
"It is hard for us to know how successful this campaign was, but it had all the hallmarks of a well-resourced operation."
Some of the malicious code used in the cyber spying campaign was developed by the Mahak Rayan Afraz tech company in Tehran, who have ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Dvilyanski.
Facebook took down 200 accounts it said were used to dupe defense or aerospace industry workers into connecting outside the social network, through techniques such as compromised emails or bogus job websites.
The group referred to as "Tortoiseshell" had focused its activities in the Middle East until last year, when it primarily took aim at the United States, according to Dvilyanski.
"This group used various malicious tactics to identify its targets and infect their devices with malware to enable espionage," said Facebook director of threat disruption David Agranovich.
"Our platform was one of the elements of the much broader cross-platform cyber-espionage operation, and its activity on Facebook manifested primarily in social engineering and driving people off-platform."
Malware slipped onto devices of victims was designed to glean information including log-in credentials to email or social media, according to Dvilyanski.
Facebook said it appeared fewer than 200 users may have fallen for the ruse, and that those people have been notified of the deception.
Facebook also blocked some of the booby-trapped website links from being shared within the social network, according to executives.
The tech giant added that it shared findings with internet industry peers and law enforcement.
"We were only part of this campaign, and we are taking action on our platform," Dvilyanski said. 
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Posted by trailing wife 2021-07-16 00:00||
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File under: Govt of Iran
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