Latest news with #Nobitex
NDTV
2 hours ago
- Business
- NDTV
Pro-Israel Hackers Steal $90 Million In Iranian Crypto Heist, Then Lose All
A pro-Israel hacking group on Wednesday drained over $90 million worth of cryptocurrency from an Iranian exchange. But multiple crypto tracking firms believe that Gonjeshke Darande, or 'Predatory Sparrow' in Farsi, lost all of the proceeds from the heist after reportedly 'burning' them in the process. The funds are now inaccessible after they were stored in 'vanity addresses' for which they do not have the cryptographic keys, The Guardian reported. On June 18, the group said it hacked the Nobitex exchange, a day after claiming they destroyed data at Iran's state-owned Bank Sepah amid escalating tensions between Israel and the Islamic Republic. Cryptocurrencies such as Doge, Ethereum and Bitcoin were taken from digital wallets on the Iranian exchange Nobitex, which has been connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. According to crypto tracking firm Elliptic, over $90 million in cryptocurrency was transferred from Nobitex crypto wallets to hacker addresses. The stolen funds were routed to addresses containing some variation of the term 'F*ckIRGCterrorists'. In a social media post on X, Predatory Sparrow confirmed that it had targeted Nobitex and later released its source code. 'Predatory Sparrow would not have the private keys for the crypto addresses they sent the Nobitex funds to, and have effectively burned the funds in order to send Nobitex a political message,' Elliptic said. Predatory Sparrow is frequently reported in Israeli media as having Israeli connections, although there has been no official proof of the hackers' identity or nationality. 'Although there is no confirmation yet that the funds were moved by Predatory Sparrow, the hack appears to be motivated by the recent escalation of tensions between Israel and Iran,' Elliptic added. Nobitex claims to have over 7 million users and is Iran's main cryptocurrency exchange. Past investigations by independent reporters have revealed linkages between Nobitex and IRGC-linked ransomware operatives and individuals close to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. The attack occurred amid growing tensions between Israel and Iran, with the two countries exchanging missile strikes, targeting crucial military installations. On Thursday, the US said it would wait for another two weeks before getting directly involved in the conflict, while Russia warned Israel against targeting the Bushehr nuclear power plant. Earlier, President Donald Trump said his patience was running out with Iran. He issued threats to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who then hit back, saying any intervention from the US would result in 'irreparable damage.'
Coin Geek
2 hours ago
- Business
- Coin Geek
Pro-Israel hackers steal $90M from Iranian exchange: report
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... A pro-Israel hacking collective has made off with $90 million worth of digital assets in a hack on Nobitex, an Iranian exchange. The group, known as Gonjeshke Darande (which is Farsi for 'Predatory Sparrow'), took responsibility for the attack in posts on X. The group followed up by releasing Nobitex's source code and warning that all assets remaining with the exchange were at risk. 'The Nobitex exchange is at the heart of the regime's efforts to finance terror around the world,' claimed Gonjeshke Darande in an X post. 'Nobitex does not even hide the fact that it circumvents sanctions, but rather explicitly teaches this on its website. The regime's dependence on this exchange is so great that working at Nobitex is considered an alternative to military service, as this channel is vital to the regime.' According to the group, the trove includes $48.7 million in USDT, $6.7 million in Dogecoin, and $1.9 million in BTC. Notably, the group claimed it had 'burned' the stolen funds by sending them to addresses with no known keys, effectively destroying the hoard. Blockchain investigator Elliptic corroborates this, finding funds began flowing from Nobitex to addresses containing variations of the term 'F*ckIRGCTerrorists' on the morning of the attack. Earlier this week, the group took responsibility for another hack that destroyed data at Iran's state-owned bank Sepah, saying that it was an institution that 'circumvented international sanctions and used the people of Iran's money to finance the regime's terrorist proxies, its ballistic missile program and its military nuclear program.' However, the group has a longer history of targeting Iran. An attack in 2023 apparently shut down 70% of the gas stations in Iran. In 2022, they claimed credit for a fire that broke out in an Iranian steel mill in a rare instance of physical damage resulting directly from a hacking attack. Gonjeshke Darande's claims about Nobitex are hardly controversial. Next to North Korea, the country is regularly named in the context of digital assets' role in helping states blunt or avoid international sanctions. A series of reports from Reuters in 2022 accused Binance of helping Iranian nationals to make $8 billion worth of digital asset transactions in violation of international sanctions, with most of the funds flowing straight to Nobitex. Iranian officials have openly advocated for using digital assets to get around sanctions, and Western-based companies—including Kraken—have been stung by regulators looking to punish entities who aid in sanctions evasion by processing transactions from Iran. Though the regime's ability to secure financing appears to be the hack's ultimate target, the funds taken from the exchange undoubtedly belonged to many individuals inside and outside Iran who have now lost access to their assets. Indeed, posts on the topic are flooded by ostensibly Iranian X accounts begging for their funds to be returned. Assuming Gonjeshke Darande sent the assets to wallets it had no access to; traditional wisdom would dictate that the funds are lost forever. However, there is growing recognition that individuals might be able to use the courts to force the return of their stolen assets so long as they can prove ownership. Services like Token Recovery have cropped up who make such recovery their business model. Whether anyone with assets held on Nobitex will successfully recover their funds remains to be seen. Given how much of the stolen assets are USD stablecoins, the dollars underlying each one are still held by their issuers, notwithstanding the hackers burning the coins themselves, which may make for an interesting avenue of redress for anyone affected. Watch: Here's how Triple Entry Accounting guarantees trust in accounting title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
India.com
4 hours ago
- Business
- India.com
Israel Iran war: Israel set to cripple Iran financially, wipes out Rs 7813185012 in one stroke by…, Here's how it happened
Hackers believed to be connected to Israel have stolen more than USD 90 million from Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex. The company confirmed that it was hit by a cyberattack. According to a post on their official X (formerly Twitter) account, both the Nobitex app and website were down while they were checking the damage from the unauthorized access. The stolen money included several types of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and others. Hackers claim responsibility Some blockchain investigation firms shared that a group came forward on Thursday and claimed responsibility for the hack. They also said they had leaked the full source code of Nobitex. In a message posted on their Telegram channel, the hackers wrote, 'Whatever was left at Nobitex is now public. Their security system is broken.' Advertisement === Traced to political messages According to a blog post by Elliptic, a blockchain analytics company, the stolen funds were sent to crypto addresses that had messages written against Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC). These messages suggest that the attack may have had a political motive too and not just financial. The incident has raised serious questions about cybersecurity in Iran's financial tech space and shows how crypto platforms can become targets during larger geopolitical tensions. Advertisement === Hackers Target Iran's Nobitex to send a political message The hackers who recently stole millions from Iran's biggest crypto exchange, Nobitex, said their goal was not to make money. Instead, they claimed the hack was meant to send a political message. The stolen funds were moved into wallets that seemed designed to embarrass Nobitex and criticize Iran's government. Who are the hackers? The attack was carried out by a hacker group named Gonjeshke Darande, which means 'Predator Bird' in Persian. This group blamed Nobitex for helping Iran's government avoid Western sanctions. They also accused the exchange of secretly moving money to support Iran's fast-growing nuclear program. The group is believed to be linked to Israel, but the Israeli government has never officially admitted to having any ties with them. A political statement, not a heist Security experts believe this was not a money-driven hack. The choice of wallets and the messages left behind show that the real goal was to expose and shame Iran's use of crypto for political and nuclear purposes.
LeMonde
10 hours ago
- Politics
- LeMonde
Who is Gonjeshke Darande, the group behind the cyberattack targeting Sepah Bank in Iran?
While missiles and bombs have flown between Israel and Iran since the large-scale attack launched by Israel on Friday, June 13, the conflict has also extended into cyberspace. On Tuesday, June 17, the group Gonjeshke Darande ("Predatory Sparrow" in Farsi) claimed responsibility for a cyberattack against Sepah Bank, one of the country's largest financial institutions. 24 hours later, on its Telegram channel, the group announced it had targeted Nobitex, the main cryptocurrency exchange platform in Iran, which Gonjeshke Darande described as "a key tool for the regime to finance terrorism and circumvent sanctions." While the group reportedly stole and made disappear as much as $90 million from Nobitex, the full impact of the attack on Sepah Bank has not been completely confirmed. However, the claim is credible, as Gonjeshke Darande has already demonstrated its ability to damage Iranian interests. Although some of its malicious software had been used as early as 2019 against Iranian interests in Syria, the group emerged publicly in summer 2021, when it claimed responsibility for two major operations. The first such operation targeted the Iranian railways, delaying trains and disrupting station activity; the hackers even altered information screens to display the phone number of the office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The following day, the website of the Ministry of Transport was hit by another cyberattack. "Our goal with this attack was to express our disgust at the abuses and cruelty inflicted by the government on the Iranian nation," the group wrote on its Telegram channel at the time.
New York Post
12 hours ago
- Business
- New York Post
Iran's crypto exchange loses $100M to hackers, sparking internet blackout as conflict with Israel continues
Iran's crypto exchange market lost $100 million in assets to hackers, triggering a near nationwide internet blackout as the Islamic Republic's fight with Israel escalates. The blackouts have carried on into Thursday after the state limited internet access to the public over the cyberattack on Nobitex, Tehran's largest cryptocurrency exchange, according to Iran's ministry of Communications. The pro-Israeli 'Predatory Sparrow' hacker group claimed responsibility for the attack, accusing Nobitex of helping Tehran evade Western sanctions and transferring money to Iran's nuclear program. Advertisement Nobitex, Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked and as a result lost $100 million in assets. REUTERS 'ASSETS LEFT IN NOBITEX ARE NOW ENTIRELY OUT IN THE OPEN,' the group touted on Telegram. While Nobitex has yet to publicly confirm the attack, the company shut down its app and website to assess 'unauthorized access' found on its systems. Advertisement The gutting of Nobitex included the thefts of several cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin and more, according to Andrew Fierman, Chainalysis' head of national security intelligence. '[The attack is] particularly significant given the comparatively modest size of Iran's cryptocurrency market,' he said. Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! Predatory Sparrow has previously claimed responsibility for other high-level cyberattacks on Iran, including the 2021 hack that saw the nation's gas stations come to a halt — as well as the 2022 attack that sparked a large fire at a steel mill. Advertisement While Israel has touted the group's hacks in the past and suggested it had connections with the Jewish state, Jerusalem has never officially acknowledged ties to Predatory Sparrow. The blackout lasted into Thursday as the pro-Israeli 'Predatory Sparrow' hacker group claimed responsibility for the attack. Reuters Netblock, a company that tracks global internet access, said the latest internet blackout in Iran is the worst the nation has seen since 2019's civil unrest. With Post wires
