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Iran-Linked Hackers Pose as Journalists in Email Scam

Reuters

   When Iranian-born German academic Erfan Kasraie received an email from
   The Wall Street Journal requesting an interview, he sensed something
   was amiss.

   The Nov. 12 note purportedly came from Farnaz Fassihi, a veteran
   Iranian-American journalist
   who covers the Middle East. Yet it read more like a fan letter, asking
   Kasraie to share his
   "important achievements" to "motivate the youth of our beloved
   country."

   "This interview is a great honor for me," the note gushed.

   Another red flag: the follow-up email that instructed Kasraie to enter
   his Google password
   to see the interview questions.

   The phony request was, in reality, an attempt to break into Kasraie's
   email account. The
   incident is part of a wider effort to impersonate journalists in
   hacking attempts that three cybersecurity firms said they have tied to
   the Iranian government, which rejected the claim.

   The incidents come to light at a time when the U.S. government has
   warned of Iranian cyber threats in the wake of the U.S. airstrike that
   killed Iran's second most powerful official,
   Major-General Qassem Soleimani.

   In a [1]report published Wednesday, London-based cybersecurity company
   Certfa tied the impersonation of Fassihi to a hacking group nicknamed
   Charming Kitten, which has long been associated with Iran.

   Israeli firm ClearSky Cyber Security provided Reuters with
   documentation of similar
   impersonations of two media figures at CNN and Deutsche Welle, a German
   public broadcaster.

   ClearSky also linked the hacking attempts to Charming Kitten,
   describing the individuals
   targeted as Israeli academics or researchers who study Iran. ClearSky
   declined to give the
   specific number of people targeted or to name them, citing client
   confidentiality.

References

   1. https://blog.certfa.com/posts/fake-interview-the-new-activity-of-charming-kitten

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