Cybersecurity group: Iran hackers targeting U.S. nuclear and Treasury officials
2H ago / AP
As U.S. President Donald Trump re-imposed harsh economic sanctions on Iran last month, hackers scrambled to break into personal emails of American officials tasked with enforcing them, The Associated Press has found – another sign of how deeply cyberespionage is embedded into the fabric of U.S.-Iranian relations.
The AP drew on data gathered by the London-based cybersecurity group Certfa to track how a hacking group often nicknamed Charming Kitten spent the past month trying to break into the private emails of more than a dozen U.S. Treasury officials. Also on the hackers' hit list: high-profile defenders, detractors and enforcers of the nuclear deal struck between Washington and Tehran, as well as Arab atomic scientists, Iranian civil society figures and D.C. think tank employees.
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An analysis of Certfa's data shows the group targeted at least 13 U.S. Treasury employees' personal emails, including one belonging to a director at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which fights money laundering and terror financing, and one used by the Iran licensing chief at the Office of Foreign Asset Control, which is in charge of enforcing U.S. sanctions. But a few employees' LinkedIn profiles referenced back office jobs or routine tax work.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/iran-hacking-charming-kitten-targets-us-nuclear-officials-cybersecurity-certfa-2018-12-13/