Hackers and internet outages hit Iran amid US air strikes
TL;DR
U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in Iran, which killed top leaders, coincided with cyberattacks and a nationwide internet outage. A popular prayer app was hacked to send anti-government messages, while the conflict disrupted regional internet and commerce.
Key Takeaways
- •U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in Iran killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other leaders, coinciding with cyberattacks and a near-total internet outage.
- •The BadeSaba prayer app with over 5 million downloads was hacked to send anti-government notifications calling for uprising against the regime.
- •Internet connectivity in Iran dropped to near-zero levels after the airstrikes, with Cloudflare confirming the collapse of the country's internet.
- •The conflict disrupted regional infrastructure, including an Amazon data center outage in the UAE and halted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
- •Cyberattacks were reportedly used as part of the military campaign to limit Iran's response, continuing a pattern of suspected U.S. and Israeli cyber operations against Iran.
Early on Saturday, cities across Iran, including its capital Tehran, were rocked by a series of U.S. and Israel-led airstrikes that killed the country’s supreme leader, Ali Hosseini Khamenei, and top leadership. According to reports, the military campaign coincided with cyberattacks targeting the country, one of which flooded a popular phone app with notifications, amid an ongoing outage across the Iranian internet.
The strikes came after several days of failed negotiations between Tehran and Washington. The negotiations were held after weeks of mass protests that saw thousands of people killed alongside the country’s longest internet shutdown to date.
As missiles struck Iranian cities, people on the ground reported being flooded with unsolicited app notifications — not from the ailing government, but from an apparent outsider.
Users of the BadeSaba prayer app received several notifications on their phones, calling for a “reckoning” and promising amnesty for anyone who rises up against government forces, per Wired.
One of the notifications said the Iranian regime would “pay for their cruel and merciless actions against the innocent people of Iran,” implying the app was compromised to display anti-government messaging.
It’s not clear who is behind the hack of the app, which lists more than 5 million downloads.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday that cyberattacks were used as part of the U.S. and Israeli attacks in an effort to limit the Iranian response. Both the U.S. and Israel have been suspected of conducting cyberattacks on banks and crypto exchanges to pressure Iran’s leadership, which has ruled since taking power in a 1989 revolution.
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The ongoing disruption hasn’t been limited to Iran. The conflict threatens to spill into the wider Middle East, as Iran retaliates with its own missiles.
Amazon said it was experiencing an outage at its Middle East data center in the United Arab Emirates, soon after Iranian missiles hit the coastal country. Amazon said its outage was caused by “objects that struck the data center, creating sparks and fire.”
The conflict is also likely to disrupt critical e-commerce air and sea routes, as ships carrying goods through the Strait of Hormuz near Iran grind to a halt.
Doug Madory, the director of internet analysis at Kentik, said in a post on Bluesky that internet connectivity dropped to near-zero levels soon after airstrikes hit the country on Saturday morning. Networking giant Cloudflare also confirmed the collapse of Iran’s internet on Saturday.