Meta Platforms was the most recent company to disclose the location of an Iranian state-sponsored threat actor on Friday, following Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI.
Following Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI, Meta Platforms was the latest business to reveal the whereabouts of an Iranian state-sponsored threat actor on Friday. According to Meta Platforms, the actor utilized a series of WhatsApp accounts to attempt to target people in Israel, Palestine, Iran, the United Kingdom, and the United States. “Political and diplomatic officials and other public figures, including some associated with the administrations of President Biden and former President Trump,”
Meta added appeared to be the focus of the activity cluster, which had its origins in Iran. The massive social media platform identified APT42, also known as Charming Kitten, Damselfly, Mint Sandstorm (formerly Phosphorus), TA453, and Yellow Garuda, as the nation-state actor responsible for the incident. It is believed to be associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran.
The malicious group is well-known for using cunning social engineering enticements to spear-phish targets of interest with malware in order to obtain login credentials. The threat actor targeted a well-known Jewish person to infect their computer with malware known as AnvilEcho, according to information released by Proofpoint earlier this week. Though it’s thought to have been a failure, Meta said the “small cluster” of WhatsApp accounts pretended to be technical help for AOL, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. Since then, the accounts have been disabled. “There is no indication that their accounts were hacked,” stated Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp’s parent corporation. “We have encouraged those who reported to us to take steps to ensure their online accounts are safe across the internet.”
This event coincides with the official accusation by the U.S. government against Iran for trying to get political intelligence and spread propaganda in order to stir division among Americans, undercut confidence in the democratic process, and damage U.S. elections.
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