Science and Technology

Al-Monitor – Israel’s National Cyber Directorate announced Friday afternoon that it had identified and blocked several attacks on websites of Israeli banks. The directorate explained the attackers tried to overwhelm the sites and make them crash. “Thanks to the banks’ strong cyberdefenses, the websites continue to be live and operational, barring the occasional interruptions,” noted a statement by the directorate, explaining that the attacks …

Al-Monitor – Last month, at the Al-Khurais electronic warfare range in Saudi Arabia, US and Royal Saudi air defense units teamed up for live-fire drills to shoot down a series of training drones mimicking the speed and altitude of a variety of Iranian attack UAVs. In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the top commander of US forces …

Iranwire – Ebrahim Vahedian Burjeni was born in Isfahan in 1935 to a Baha’i family and completed his primary education in the same city. After finishing the eighth grade, and receiving his middle school certificate, his uncle told him: “If you want God to be happy with you, become a teacher.” Following his advice, Ebrahim continued his education by going …

Al-Monitor — Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was in Moscow on Wednesday for a visit he said covered military cooperation among a host of other bilateral and regional issues.   “Obviously, defense cooperation is one of the subjects topping the joint agenda of Iran and Russia,” he declared when leaving for Moscow, where he stood next to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov at …

Iranwire – Russia has provided Iran with advanced digital-surveillance capabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported on March 27, as the two countries seek to bolster cooperation in the field of security and defense. The US newspaper quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has provided Tehran with “communication-surveillance …

Iranwire – Iranian authorities imposed 18 Internet shutdowns in 2022 in response to months-long nationwide demonstrations against the government, the third highest number in the world, according to a US digital rights advocacy group. “From Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, authorities are imposing internet shutdowns at staggering rates. In 2022 alone, governments and other actors disrupted the internet at least 187 times …

RFL/RE – Iran has developed a cruise missile with a range of 1,650 kilometers a top Revolutionary Guards commander said on February 24, in a move likely to raise Western concerns after Russia’s use of Iranian drones in the Ukraine war. Separately, Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ aerospace force, also spoke of Iran’s often repeated …

Iranwire – The Islamic Republic of Iran has revealed an underground air force large enough to store and operate fighter jets, bombers and drones, official media reported on February 7. The Iranian air force has seen an increasing number of crashes and equipment failures in recent years as the Islamic Republic struggles to stay relevant with aging, outdated technology. Despite …

RFL/RE – Russia and Iran are moving forward on plans to establish a factory in Russia aimed at producing some 6,000 Iran-designed drones of the type Moscow has used in the Ukraine war, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited officials in a U.S.-aligned country. Moscow and Tehran seek to produce a faster drone to better challenge Ukrainian air defenses, …

VOA —An Iranian government-backed hacking team allegedly stole and leaked private customer data belonging to French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, security researchers at Microsoft said Friday. The magazine was hacked in early January after it published a series of cartoons that negatively depicted Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The caricatures were part of a media campaign that Charlie Hebdo said was intended to …