Politico: Iran Paid Millions in Ransom to Stop Cyber Attack on Banks

The American magazine "Politico" reported, citing informed sources, that Iran's banking system was targeted by a cyber attack in August, which forced the Islamic Republic to agree to pay millions of dollars in ransom. In its report on Wednesday, September 4, Politico reflected statements from Western experts and officials who say an Iranian company paid at least three million dollars to an unidentified group of hackers last month to refrain from releasing personal account information from over 20 domestic banks in Iran. The report emphasizes that this attack appears to be the worst cyber attack that has occurred in Iran. According to "informed officials", a group called "IR Leaks", which has a history of hacking Iranian companies, was likely behind this breach. It is said that the hackers initially threatened to sell the stolen data, which includes personal account and credit card information of millions of Iranians, on the "dark web" unless they received ten million dollars in cryptocurrency, but later agreed to a lower amount. According to this report, the Iranian government consented to this deal for fear that the issue of "data theft" would further destabilize the country's already fragile financial system, which is under pressure from international sanctions. No report has been published by Iran indicating what problem in August caused ATMs across the country to malfunction. Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, blamed the United States and Israel for "spreading fear among the Iranian people" following this attack, without acknowledging that the country's banks had been attacked. Despite the tensions between Iran, the U.S., and Israel, informed individuals told Politico that "IR Leaks" is not affiliated with either the United States or Israel, and this attack appears to be the work of independent hackers primarily motivated by financial gain.