Science and Technology

Iranwire – Fuel pumps in Iran are reportedly back online a day after a cyberattack paralyzed gas stations across the country, but less than half of stations are still able to take subsidized fuel cards. The CEO of National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, Jafar Salari Nesab, said on December 19 that “almost all” gas stations are operational, though only …

VOA – The Western powers in the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran accused Tehran on Monday of developing and testing ballistic missiles, transferring hundreds of drones to Russia, and enriching uranium to an unprecedented 60% level for a country without a nuclear weapons program — all in violation of a U.N. resolution endorsing the deal. Iran and its ally, Russia, …

Iranintl – One of Iran’s cyber espionage tactics to support Hamas is using Hebrew-speaking women to gather intelligence from Israeli soldiers, Iran International has learned. According to our sources, several of these women are based in the religious city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran and use social media to seduce Israeli soldiers by sending nude images or provocative footage of …

RFL/RE -Services have been disrupted at about 70 percent of Iran’s gas stations, Oil Minister Javad Owji told state TV on December 18, adding that outside interference is a possibility. From early this morning, gas stations across Iran, particularly in the capital, faced disruptions. “A software problem with the fuel system has been confirmed in some stations across the country …

VOA – U.S. and Ukrainian researchers say Western nations are making progress in trying to curb illicit transfers of Western electronic components to a Russian facility suspected of making Iranian-designed attack drones, but that more needs to be done. The White House released a U.S. intelligence finding June 8 asserting Russia was receiving Iranian materials needed to build an attack …

Iranwire – The European Union has imposed sanctions on six Iranian individuals and five entities it says are involved in Iran’s “development and production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) used in Russia’s illegal war of aggression.”  “These are the first listings under the newly established framework for restrictive measures in view of Iran’s military support of Russia’s war of aggression …

VOA – Iran has reinforced its air defense capabilities by adding combat drones equipped with air-to-air missiles to its arsenal, state media reported Sunday. “Dozens of Karrar drones armed with air-to-air missiles have been added for air defense in all border areas of the country,” the official IRNA news agency said. The drones, said to have an operational range of …

Iranwire – The Islamic Republic of Iran says it has sent up a rocket with a capsule carrying animals, as part of a program aimed at manned space flight. State media quoted Telecommunications Minister Isa Zarepour as saying the capsule was launched 130 kilometers into orbit on December 6.  He said the launch was aimed at sending astronauts to space …

Iranwire – US authorities have published an advisory on a cyber group said to be affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and using Israeli-made systems to attack American facilities. Called the CyberAv3ngers, the hackers are “actively targeting and compromising Israeli-made Unitronics Vision Series programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that are are commonly used to manage …

VOA – A small western Pennsylvania water authority was just one of many organizations breached in the United States by Iran-affiliated hackers who targeted a specific industrial control device because it is Israeli-made, U.S. and Israeli authorities say. “The victims span multiple U.S. states,” the FBI, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, as …