Washington Examiner-Apple and Google are letting Iran's cyber surveillance go unchecked
For years, the Iranian regime has been struggling to rein-in access to Internet services because it knows full-well providing unharnessed access to the Internet will defeat its censorship machine. The mullahs ruling Iran had a first-hand experience of what the Internet can do in 2009, when images and videos of the regime’s brutality toward peaceful protesters were broadcast worldwide on social media networks.
And with the advent of secure, encrypted messaging applications, keeping tabs on and monitoring Internet traffic has become even harder for the state.
Iran's cyber warfare against its people must not stand
BY RAYMOND TANTER AND IVAN SASCHA SHEEHAN
The Hill, Feb. 23, 2018 - New cyber revelations from the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK), the Iranian opposition movement, about the scope of mass surveillance by the Iranian regime are significant. Why? They show the desperation of the Iranian regime in confronting the uprising that began nationwide last December and has continued to this day.
Anti-government protesters chanted slogans indicative of a revolution: “Death to the dictator,” “Death to (Supreme Leader) Khamenei”, “Death to (Hassan) Rouhani,” “Don’t be afraid, we are all together,” “Forget about Syria, think about us,” “Not Gaza, nor Lebanon, my life for Iran,” and “Reformer, Hardline, the Game Is Now Over.”
The fact that protests expanded to over 140 cities, by some estimates, constitutes an existential threat to the regime and an opportunity to use the people’s resentment as leverage against it. The Obama administration squandered valuable opportunities in the past — most notably during the 2009 anti-government protests in Iran.
Only when the Iranian regime employed cyber technology was it able to slow down the spread of the protests and wage large numbers of arrests.
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Iran Regime Increases Cyber Attacks on Australian Universities
Many Australian universities have been targeted by Iranian hackers in recent months, according to cyber security firm Crowd Strike in their 2018 Global Threat Report, and these attacks are now being investigated.
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SPY APP PROBE: Google launches full investigation into claims Iran is spying on millions of Brits using ‘weaponized’ phone apps
By Mark Hodge
The Sun, 16th February 2018 - GOOGLE has launched a full investigation into claims Iran could be spying on Brits and Americans using 'weaponized' apps.
The Sun Online exclusively revealed yesterday how the Iranian regime has created its own messaging apps which are available on the search giant's online store.
Mobogram is allegedly spyware enabled and is available to download on Google
Mobogram is allegedly spyware enabled and is available to download on Google's online store and Apple's App store
According to an explosive report, the apps - also available from Apple's App store - are spyware-enabled to help Iranians hunt down anti-government protesters in the country.
A Google spokesman confirmed a probe has been launched.
He said: 'We always take feedback from the community seriously and are currently investigating the situation. While we don’t comment on specific apps, our Google Play policies are designed to provide a great experience for users.'
The most popular of these applications is called Mobogram, which is used by millions of Iranians and is available to download by westerners on Apple’s App Store.
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On 2.15.2018 the Iranian resistance office in Washington D.C held a press conference on cyber repression in Iran, and introduced a new publication released by the name:
"Iran: Cyber Repression: How the IRGC Uses Cyberwarfare to Preserve the Theocracy"
Following is an explosive new report claims the spyware-enabled messaging apps, used by the evil regime, are being used by Iranian expats in the West to communicate with their relatives in the troubled country:
Iran devising apps for ‘mass surveillance’ of regime opponents: Report
By Guy Taylor
The Washington Times, February 15, 2018 - Iran’s intelligence services have “significantly accelerated” spying on their own citizens in the wake of the recent anti-regime protests that rocked the nation, according to an extensive new investigation being released Thursday by a leading Iranian exile dissident group.
The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ) claims the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Intelligence and Security are engaging in “mass surveillance” of protesters and dissidents, employing a web of state-produced mobile phone applications.
The report by NCRI, which fiercely opposed the regime in Tehran but has a record of exposing military and other internal workings of the government, contends that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has spread its spyware so successfully that “millions of users” outside Iran could be exposed to it.
Thursday’s report claimed an “internal network” of sources tied to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran or MEK — the principal member of the NCRI — has uncovered the regime’s use of “mass surveillance through malicious codes embedded in IRGC mobile apps to actively disrupt the communication of protesters and dissidents.”
“IRGC front companies are developing spyware-enabled apps for cyber-surveillance and repression,” the report said. Some of the apps have succeeded in penetrating platforms promoted by Google and Apple, and are tied to Telegram — the globally popular, cloud-based instant messaging service that was heavily used by demonstrators in the recent round of street protests.
“Through front companies, such as Hanista, the IRGC has created apps such as Mobogram, an unofficial Telegram fork,” the report claimed. “Ironically, some of these spyware-enabled apps are available on Google Play, Apple Store, and GitHub, potentially exposing millions of users worldwide to the IRGC’s spyware and surveillance activities.”
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NCRI: Iran spying on MILLIONS worldwide using ‘military-made apps on iTunes and Google'
By Henry Holloway
CYBER WARFARE: Iranian opposition group have alleged Tehran is using military-made apps to spy
Daily Star-15th February 2018- Tehran’s elite military wing the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) is accused of being behind a huge cyberwarfare empire being used to police its own people.
This comes in the wake of huge protests across Iran as thousands in 142 cities call for the overthrow of the Islamic regime – which celebrated its 39th anniversary on Sunday.
Campaigners from the National Council of Resistance of Iran( NCRI ) have now laid out the scope of Iran’s cyber-developing capabilities.
Published today, the damning repot Iran: Cyber Repression accused the IRGC of developing apps which are unwittingly installed on people’s phones and then used as spying tools.
NCRI alleges these Iranian military-developed apps have also found their way onto iTunes, Google and Github – exposing “millions of users worldwide to the IRGC’s spyware and surveillance”.
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