Iran Desperate: Cuts Internet To Halt Cyber Attacks

JBS

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Ever since the Iranian regime has been hit by wave after wave of smart virues targeting their nuclear facilities, they've been trying to find a way to blunt the onslaught that has set them back repeatedly.

Their latest solution: Pull the plug on the whole thing... evidence they have no idea how to stop foreign technologies.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...tate-goes-offline-to-dodge-cyber-attacks.html

Reza Taghipour, the country's telecommunications minister, said the step was being taken because sensitive intelligence was vulnerable on the worldwide web, which he said was untrustworthy because it was controlled by "one or two" countries hostile to Iran.

"The establishment of the national intelligence network will create a situation where the precious intelligence of the country won't be accessible to these powers," Mr Taghipour told a conference on Sunday at Tehran's Amir Kabir University.

He described the move as the first phase of a project to replace the global internet with a domestic intranet system scheduled to be completed within 18 months.

Opponents have previously denounced the plan as a means of stamping out western influence on the internet while further tightening already stringent online surveillance of political activists and regime critics.


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Interesting article. And +1 for the clipart, which I assume wasn't part of the original story.


"The establishment of the national intelligence network will create a situation where the precious intelligence of the country won't be accessible to these powers," Mr Taghipour told a conference on Sunday at Tehran's Amir Kabir University.

Right; because without the Internet, there is no way the Americans or Israelis can gain intel on your country, or sabotage your nuclear weapons program. :thumbsup:
 
Interesting.

I haven't paid any attention to Iran's society, but were there any protests or demonstrations before this? In other words, does this serve a dual purpose in "protecting" their infrastructure while also stifling outbound information?

Unless they are trying to conduct a digital "Rope-a-Dope" on us, this is a great sign; they clearly can't protect their networks. If I were a Cyber "warrior" I would lick my chops at the chance to go after these guys when service is restored.
 
... If I were a Cyber "warrior" I would lick my chops at the chance to go after these guys when service is restoredl. say "hey I'm in the fight too" and demand a special medal just for myself, after complaining about how stressful my job was and how much it puts me at risk... at my job stateside. Oh wait, maybe that's just UAV drivers.
 
It'll make it easier for them to track the source of the next virus. They have to disconnect all internal (Iran and local) networks to make this happen.

Rope-a-dope IMHO.
 
Interesting.

I haven't paid any attention to Iran's society, but were there any protests or demonstrations before this? In other words, does this serve a dual purpose in "protecting" their infrastructure while also stifling outbound information?

Unless they are trying to conduct a digital "Rope-a-Dope" on us, this is a great sign; they clearly can't protect their networks. If I were a Cyber "warrior" I would lick my chops at the chance to go after these guys when service is restored.

There's a pretty severe disconnect between the Iranian population and the hardline government types. The protests after the 2009 election controversy was the first sign most of us had seen of this disparity in popular opinion. Unfortunately Ahmedinejad can employ his Basij forces with impunity against anyone who speaks out against the regime, so any sort of public gathering outside of the really large ones we saw post-election (And during the Arab spring) are pretty unlikely. If there are any protests as a result of this, the internet blockage will probably prevent most news about it from leaving the country. I dont know about the distribution of satellite services throughout the country, but I imagine its not very high.

As much as people talk about Iran being a shitty country despotic country bent on creating a nuclear cataclysm, I think a lot of that would go away in a day if Ahmedinejad and his cronies were deposed.
 
There's a pretty severe disconnect between the Iranian population and the hardline government types. The protests after the 2009 election controversy was the first sign most of us had seen of this disparity in popular opinion.
There's also no good way to quantify exactly how much of the population feels that way, since Iran is a police state. It's hard to get an objective 3rd party perspective of what's actually going on. But, I guess we have a much better POV on Iran than we do on North Korea- where the only information that ever leaves the country is gov't propaganda.
 
This is pretty interesting. I know absolutely nothing about that level of technology, but that's pretty cool.
 
There's also no good way to quantify exactly how much of the population feels that way, since Iran is a police state. It's hard to get an objective 3rd party perspective of what's actually going on. But, I guess we have a much better POV on Iran than we do on North Korea- where the only information that ever leaves the country is gov't propaganda.

After Israel, Iran has the second highest level of internet proliferation in the Middle East, so its a little easier to gauge public opinion irrespective of public censorship. According to the Guardian, there's approximately 20 million users in Iran, with a mere population of 75 million. The 2009 riots showed us the level of discontent there was with the current political system. Literally millions of people came out to protest that election. You hardly saw that in OWS here. Sure, there were probably myriad reasons for people to be out there, but just having that many people coming out for a single cause shows you that something is wrong in that country.

Also, totally anecdotal but a lot of Iranian expats I've talked to say that people really, really dont like Ahmedinejad. Granted, they're probably a little biased (as he's most likely the reason they left) but it still should give you pause. San Diego has a very large persian community and all the folks I've talked to have said the same thing.
 
Complicating the matter on how best to dispense diplomatic and international relations tools, the United States has a (perceived) dismal record with choices made concerning Iran in decades past. If, and when, we decide to overtly interact with that nation, we have to get it right, as there's little margin for error. A serious misstep- real or imagined- could severely undermine whatever Western / democratic support there is within Iran for years to come.
 
Complicating the matter on how best to dispense diplomatic and international relations tools, the United States has a (perceived) dismal record with choices made concerning Iran in decades past. If, and when, we decide to overtly interact with that nation, we have to get it right, as there's little margin for error. A serious misstep- real or imagined- could severely undermine whatever Western / democratic support there is within Iran for years to come.

Agreed. Unfortunately I don't think we'll see any real diplomatic progress with Iran until Amhedinejad loses power (however that happens).

Does anyone know whatever happened to that former Marine (I think his name was Hekmati) who was captured by Iran? The last news story I saw was from March which said that he was granted a retrial.
 
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