CNN
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The hackers stole about $90 million worth of anything from Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange on Wednesday, according to several independent cryptocurrency tracking companies.
A skilled pro-Israel hacking group known as “predatory sparrows” trusted cyber attacks that appeared to be aimed at further weakening Iran amid Israeli military strikes.
In a post by X’s Farzie, the hackers said they attacked Iran’s crypto exchange Nobitex, claiming that Iran used the exchange to skirt international sanctions. And in an extraordinary move, hackers may have effectively dumped the stolen cryptography by transferring it to a digital “wallet,” according to multiple cybersecurity experts.
Nobitex confirmed the incident in a statement on its website on Wednesday, saying access to crypto exchanges had been “suspended” until further notice as a precaution. Crypto-tracking companies Elliptic and TRM Labs have confirmed that the cryptography has been stolen and sent to your “wallet” or crypto account.
In another hack on Tuesday, the predatory Sparrow said it had destroyed data at Iran’s state-owned bank Sepa, claiming IRGC members used the bank’s services as justification for action. Fars News, a member of the Iranian province, has warned of potential disruptions in banking services at gas stations.
Tehran sources told CNN they had been to about 10 ATM machines on Tuesday and Wednesday, and found that they were not working or they were running out of cash.
The stunning pair of cyberattacks marked the escalation of Israel and Iran’s longtime Shadow Wars, where arch enemies or their supporters carried out digital spies and data-destructive attacks for tactical advantage.
The predatory sparrows have appeared to claim epic cyber attacks that previously disrupted Iran’s steel factories and payments over the past five years. Hackers throw themselves as anti-Iranian hackitivist, but are widely suspected of having ties with Israel among cybersecurity experts.
Hamid Kashfi, a cybersecurity expert who speaks of falsi, told CNN that predatory sparrow hacking could affect ordinary Iranians despite allegations that hackers are targeting IRGC assets. In the current war with Israel, reducing access to financial resources, “Many Iranians bank banking in codes,” Kashfi said.
Much of recent cyber activity as a trade missile strike between Israel and Iran appears to be aimed at sowing panic in both countries. For example, Israelis have received a ton of text messages impersonating authorities who claim that bomb shelters are not safe.
Meanwhile, the Iranian government is warning citizens not to use WhatsApp messaging services, fearing that Israel is gathering information from those chats. A spokesman for Meta, which owns WhatsApp, calls these claims false, emphasizing that WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted.
Reported by Muhammad Darwish of CNN.