According to a recent Google report, Iran’s military is operating a variety of cyber efforts to identify and remove individuals who are thought to be helping the nation’s enemies.
Iran’s military employed a network of social media accounts, phony websites, and other resources, according to researchers at the company’s Mandiant branch, to gather intelligence on “Iranians and domestic threats who may be collaborating with intelligence and security agencies abroad, particularly in Israel.”
The researchers stated, “The gathered information may be used to expose human intelligence (HUMINT) activities carried out against Iran and to punish any Iranians believed to be involved in these operations.”
Based on the strategies, tactics, and targets used, Mandiant decided that the campaign was carried out by the Iranian government. The security firm stated that it could find no connection between this effort and the previously uncovered activities that aim to influence US elections.
It was found that there were over 40 phony recruiting websites, the majority of which offered opportunities in Israel and were written in Arabic and Farsi. Users of the website were requested to submit additional data and personal information.
Mandiant found numerous fake profiles on YouTube, Twitter, Telegram, and Virasty, an Iranian social networking platform. The posts advertise hiring companies that provide positions in human resources, cybersecurity, and IT.
According to Mandiant, the campaign looked to have started as early as 2017 and continued until March 2024. It also mentioned that comparable campaigns were reportedly carried out on behalf of proxy groups in Syria and Lebanon.
They discovered that the phony recruiting websites had both desktop and mobile versions, with identical information that appeared to have been created by Israeli businesses. People in “the army, security services, and intelligence from Syria and Hezbollah, Lebanon” were the target audience for a number of the websites.
One video on a YouTube channel that Mandiant found promoted a hiring service and provided an email address for candidates to submit their information to.
According to Mandiant, Iranian citizens “who are suspected of collaborating with countries Iran might perceive as adversaries” should be concerned about the effort.
Iranian dissidents, activists, human rights supporters, and Farsi speakers living in and outside of Iran may be among them. The campaign aims to expose Farsi-speaking people who might be working with intelligence and security agencies and are therefore seen as a threat to Iran’s regime. It does this by using a variety of social media platforms to spread its network of fictitious HR websites, according to the statement.
“The information gathered, including addresses, phone numbers, and professional and
educational backgrounds, could be used against the targets that were targeted in later operations.”
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