Iran’s IRGC says it arrested hacker tied to Israeli Mossad: What we know
Iran has ramped up its crackdown against individuals suspected of collaborating with Israel amid a heated cyberwarfare between the two countries.
On Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps arrested the leader of the online hacking group “Backdoor” (3ackdOor), accusing him of having ties to anti-regime media outlets and networks linked to Israel’s Mossad and other Western intelligence agencies.
What happened: The IRGC’s Intelligence Organization (IO-IRGC) has been investigating Backdoor since 2022, when the account began exposing personal information of morality police officers and other military personnel on Twitter and Telegram, Fars News Agency reported Sunday.
This information was picked up by a number of media outlets known for their opposition to the Iranian regime, most notably the London-based news outlet Iran International, which wrote reports based on these leaks, according to Fars.
Upon further investigation, the IO-IRGC identified the leader of the group, who allegedly operated under a fake online persona of a Dutch girl pretending to advocate for Iranian women’s rights by exposing confidential information about security and military officers.
