Cyberattack hits Iran parliament websites: state media

“The scale of the problem is under investigation by expert technical teams,” IRNA said. (AFP/File)

• Hacking group called “Uprising till Overthrow” claimed responsability for the attack
• Cyberattack took place less than three weeks before parliamentary elections

TEHRAN: The websites of Iran’s parliament and its affiliated news agency went down Tuesday after they were targeted by hackers, state media reported.
“The websites of the parliament and Khane Mellat (ICANA.ir) news agency have been hacked and become unavailable since this morning due to cyberattacks,” the official IRNA news agency reported.
“The scale of the problem is under investigation by expert technical teams,” IRNA added, quoting a statement from the legislature.
The cyberattack was claimed by a hacking group called “Uprising till Overthrow,” affiliated with exiled opposition group the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), which Iran considers a terrorist organization.
In a statement on its Telegram channel, the group said it hacked 600 servers affiliated with Iran’s parliament and released hundreds of pages of hacked material on its Telegram page.
The cyberattack took place less than three weeks before Iran goes to the polls to elect a new parliament on March 1.
Websites linked to Iran’s government and affiliated media outlets have suffered several cyberattacks over the years.
A December cyberattack disrupted fuel sales at 60 percent of Iran’s petrol stations for weeks before services were fully resumed.
In November 2022, hackers disrupted the output of Fars news agency, which was one of the main sources of news disseminated by the state during nationwide protests triggered by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini.
Months later, in February 2023, hackers supporting the protests said they hacked an online broadcast by state television of a speech by President Ebrahim Raisi commemorating the 1979 Islamic Revolution.