Iranian state backed hackers accused of attacking online security systems to pry on opposition
March 25th, 2011 - 4:16 pm ICT by ANITehran, Mar 25 (ANI): Iranian hackers have been accused of trying to corrupt one of the net’s key security systems, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
The BBC quoted an analysis of the attack as saying that it originated and was co-ordinated via servers in Iran.
The analysis has also revealed that someone got access to the computer systems of a firm that issues certificates, and created fake certificates that if used, would have let them impersonate any one of several big net firms.
According to reports, the hackers had targeted the SSL certificates of several specific net communication services like Gmail, Skype, Microsoft Live, Yahoo and the Firefox browser.
Comodo, the SSL certificate issuer that published an analysis of the attack, said that the attack exhibited “clinical accuracy,” and added that: “This was likely to be a state-driven attack.”
The attack is believed to have been carried out by the Iranian authorities to scritinise opposition groups in the country that use the web to co-ordinate their activity.
Writing on the blog of digital rights lobby group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, senior staff technologist Peter Eckersley said that the attack posed a “dire risk to internet security”.
“The incident got close to - but was not quite - an internet-wide security meltdown. We urgently need to start reinforcing the system that is currently used to authenticate and identify secure websites and e-mail systems,” Eckersley said. (ANI)
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