Iranian media claims ‘cyberattack’ on Tel Aviv metro

Iranian media reports on Monday that “media sources” had described a “massive cyberattack against operating systems and servers of the Tel Aviv Metro.”

The report that Iran’s Fars media relied on was the Telegram channel of Sabareen. This is the usual method of Iran: to launder rumors online to try to make them appear to be reality. At other times, this is the method Iran uses to put information out that it wants to be communicated to the public.

What did the report actually say?

The article claims that after reports of the “attack” a clarification was made that the cyberattack was actually against a company that is involved with the construction of the Tel Aviv regional subway system.

This is because the Metro itself is not operating and is in fact part of a recent political dispute in Israel.

Iranian flag and cyber code [Illustrative] (credit: PIXABAY)

Iran’s media says that this is the “second time that the government websites and servers of the Zionist regime have been targeted by cyberattacks from Iraq. The latest attack of this type dates back to the end of last June,” the report says.

The article claims this is one of several cyberattacks, including one last year that “disabled the largest transport company of the Zionist regime.”

Other reports based on Sabareen’s Telegram channel have asserted that Iraqi hackers targeted “Israeli digital intelligence” and that the hacker group “Al-Tahera” in Iraq was involved.

Kayhan news in Iran also reported this alleged incident. Fars says the same group was linked to the claimed incident this week. In April, the same Telegraph channel claimed Hackers had targeted Israel’s Airport Authority.

The April attack was alleged to be retaliation for the US killing Qasem Soleimani.