Latest news with #internetblackout
TechCrunch
6 hours ago
- Politics
- TechCrunch
Iran's government says it shut down internet to protect against cyberattacks
Earlier this week, virtually everyone in Iran lost access to the internet in what was called a 'near-total national internet blackout.' At the time, it was unclear what happened or who was responsible for the shutdown, which has severely limited Iranians' means to get information about the ongoing war with Israel, as well as their ability to communicate with loved ones inside and outside of the country. Now, Iran's government has confirmed that it ordered the shutdown to protect against Israeli cyberattacks. 'We have previously stated that if necessary, we will certainly switch to a national internet and restrict global internet access. Security is our main concern, and we are witnessing cyberattacks on the country's critical infrastructure and disruptions in the functioning of banks,' Fatemeh Mohajerani, Iran's government spokesperson, was quoted as saying in a local news story. 'Many of the enemy's drones are managed and controlled via the internet, and a large amount of information is exchanged this way. A cryptocurrency exchange was also hacked, and considering all these issues, we have decided to impose internet restrictions.' The world must see the truth! The Israeli regime is not only committing aggression against Iran—it is waging a war on truth and human conscience. Israel has banned foreign media from covering missile strikes, subject to #IDF censorship. Why? To hide its crimes: While #Iran… — Foreign Ministry, Islamic Republic of Iran 🇮🇷 (@IRIMFA_EN) June 20, 2025 Mohajerani referred to the hacks on Bank Sepah and Iranian cryptocurrency exchange Nobitex. In both cases, a group of hackers called Predatory Sparrow (also known in Farsi as 'Gonjeshke Darande') claimed responsibility and said it was attacking Iranian organizations to hurt the regime. Predatory Sparrow is a mysterious group that purports to be a group of pro-Israel hacktivists, which has had a lot of success disrupting key services in Iran, like gas stations and steel plants. Everyday Iranians, in and outside of the country, are suffering from the internet shutdown in the midst of Israeli bombardments. Amir Rashidi, Director of cyber security and digital rights at Miaan Group, told TechCrunch that his family evacuated Tehran as they lived in a neighborhood that the Israeli government warned it was going to target. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW 'I haven't heard from them in two days, but someone is supposed to update me. I hope everything is okay,' Rashidi said. It's not just the internet. All forms of communication from outside to inside the country have been cut off — even phone calls. If you try to call from outside, the phone won't ring inside, and you'll hear a meaningless recorded message on your end.' Nariman Gharib, an Iranian activist who lives in London, said that a small group of people are able to get online because they know how to use virtual private servers as proxies, or 'get lucky with their ADSL connections, since there are some disruptions in the network.' 'There aren't that many people able to get online,' Gharib told TechCrunch. 'My friends are tech-savvy, so they can bypass the restrictions, but generally, it's very difficult because we have a complete internet shutdown in the country.'
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Iran Flicks Its Internet ‘Kill Switch' as Cyber Attacks Mount
Iran imposed a nationwide internet and telephone blackout, telling civilians it's necessary to prevent Israeli cyber attacks as fears grow the US will join the ongoing conflict. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology called the measure needed and temporary, 'given the abuse of the country's communication network by the aggressor enemy,' according to a statement cited by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
ABC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
People in Iran trying to flee Israeli bombs face internet blackout, ordered to delete WhatsApp
Iranians face a nationwide internet blackout as Israeli strikes continue to pummel the country, including the capital Tehran. NetBlocks, an internet watchdog run by British human rights advocate Alp Toker, reported mid-Thursday (Australia time) that Iran had been offline for more than 12 hours. It said authorities had imposed a nation-wide internet shutdown, citing Israel's alleged "misuse" of the network for military purposes. "The measure continues to hinder residents' access to information at a critical time," NetBlocks said. Since Israel first attacked Iran last Friday, Iranian authorities have regularly placed partial restrictions on internet access for the country's roughly 90 million people — even as many sought to flee their homes to safer locations. Iranian authorities have reported at least 224 deaths, mainly civilians, as the result of Israel's bombing campaign — but have not updated that toll for days. A number of senior military leaders and scientists involved in Iran's nuclear program have been killed in strikes on their homes in apartment blocks, which authorities said also killed scores of civilians. The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists said on Thursday that at least 639 people — of whom it had identified 263 civilians and 154 security force personnel — had been killed in Iran. Israel has said 24 people, all civilians, have been killed in Iran's retaliatory strikes. Ali Vaez, Iran project director with the Washington-based think tank Crisis Group, said it was unclear why Iranian authorities had blocked the internet. "One possible reason could be that they're worried about an Israeli cyber attack that could either tap into sensitive information or paralyse some of the critical infrastructure in the country," he said. "There might also be damage to some of the infrastructure that provides internet," Dr Vaez said. "The regime might also be potentially interested in trying to prevent communication out of fear it would allow mobilisation from inside the country as some sort of popular or foreign-led uprising against the regime." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken about the need for regime change in Tehran. Speaking after the first strikes against Iran last week he said, addressing Iranians, that: "As we achieve our objective, we are also clearing the path for you to achieve your freedom. "The regime does not know what hit them, or what will hit them. It has never been weaker. This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard," Mr Neyanyahu said. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran would not surrender in comments carried by semi-official news agency Tasnim. "War will be met with war, bombing with bombing, and strike with strike," he said. "Iran will not submit to any demands or dictates." In response to internet restrictions, tech billionaire Elon Musk said on his social media platform X over the weekend that he had activated the Starlink satellite communications system in Iran. The internet there was already heavily censored and authorities have previously shut off or restricted internet access to suppress popular dissent, including in 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini which sparked anti-regime women's rights protests. Iranian officials blocked access to WhatsApp in the wake of those protests until late 2024. On Tuesday (Tehran time), Iranian state television told Iranians to remove the WhatsApp messaging platform from their phones, claiming that the app was sending user information to Israel. WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, said this was "false information that we're concerned will be used as an excuse to block WhatsApp at a time when people need it the most". "All of your personal messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted so we cannot see them," WhatsApp said in a statement. "We do not track your precise location. We do not keep logs of the personal messages people are sending one another. "We do not provide bulk information to any government," it said. The ABC's attempts to contact a source in Tehran via WhatsApp on Thursday was unsuccessful. Iranians have also reported having difficulty accessing cash or making online payments due to disruptions to the country's banking systems. CNN's chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour, who is British-Iranian, told ABC Radio National she was in contact with family and some friends in Iran. "They are, at least my family, trying to do their best to evacuate to various homes inside Tehran but they can't get out because the roads are gridlocked, they don't have gasoline," she said. "The financial system has been hacked so therefore it's hard to pay for what you need. If this goes on, they might run out of provisions." Predatory Sparrow, an Israel-linked hacking group known by its Persian name Gonjeshke Darande, earlier in the week claimed a major cyber attack against the Iranian financial institution Bank Sepah. The hacking group said Bank Sepah 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". Crisis Group's Dr Vaez said the Iranian population was terrified — particularly because state media had extensively covered the war in Gaza since October 7, 2023. "They have seen the degree of bloodshed and civilian casualties in Gaza, and they know that, you know, Israel doesn't necessarily distinguish between civilians and its prime targets and and so they're terrified," he said. Palestinian authorities say more than 55,000 people have been killed during Israel's war against Hamas. The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas-led militants raided Israel and took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, on October 7, 2023, Israel's single deadliest day. Israel has maintained that its military operations are conducted in self-defence and that it takes steps to mitigate civilian harm. Dr Vaez said that unlike in Israel, there were no bomb shelters for civilians in Iran so people felt especially unprotected and vulnerable. "This is a regime that was not offering anything on social freedoms or economic prosperity or political participation. It was only offering security," he said. "Now even on that front, it is failing and there's a sense of despair inside the country."
LBCI
2 days ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Iran in 'near-total internet blackout': UK-based watchdog
Iran was on Wednesday in a "near-total national internet blackout" as tensions deepened between Tehran and Israel, a London-based online watchdog said. "Live network data show Iran is now in the midst of a near-total national internet blackout; the incident follows a series of earlier partial disruptions and comes amid escalating military tensions with Israel after days of back-and-forth missile strikes," NetBlocks wrote on X. AFP
Sky News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
British-Iranians struggling to contact friends and family who fear punishment by Tehran regime
With Iran now in the midst of a near-total internet blackout, communication is dire - but we've managed to piece together a picture of a country where there is fear and panic, but where activists say the ruling regime is still in control. We meet British-Iranians Amir Javadzadeh and Attieh Fard in the UK - struggling to get through to their friends and family in Iran. Hour by hour, it's getting harder and harder. Amir finally makes contact with a friend in the eastern city of Mashhad. We are calling the friend "Ali" to protect his identity. Ali paints a worrying picture of people struggling to get hold of basics like bread and fuel. He later sends us a video he's taken of a huge fuel queue in the city. "My wife is in hospital and I have to go there all the time and I don't have any fuel or medicine for her. "Really it's a difficult time for us, and we don't have gasoline, we have problems preparing food. All the people have fear,' he adds. Not only is there a shortage of fuel - but some people who have fled the capital Tehran are coming to Mashhad, he adds. 'I'm really angry… we're actually, you know, we are stuck in the middle of a war between our government and the Israelis,' Ali said. People in Iran are terrified to speak to Western media - afraid of being punished by the Iranian regime. Although some have been prepared to share videos with us anonymously, like the one below, that they've filmed of the bombing in Tehran. Attieh Fard shared with us a message exchange between her and one of her relatives, one says: 'Everyone has worries and stress….They (the Israelis) won't stop until they hit the target.' Despite the dangers, one member of a group of anti-regime activists agreed to speak to us from the capital Tehran - we have changed his name to "Sam", to hide his identity. With America threatening to bomb Iran, Sam described the ongoing conflict as a "very historical moment in our Iranian history'. Asked if he is afraid of US intervention, he said: "Not at all because the Americans, we believe, are not going to fight with the people, they are fighting with the Islamic Republic. They're against the ideology of the Islamic republic. So that's why we're not afraid. 'The view from inside Iran is that if a US attack happens, I think it will result in the fall of the Islamic Republic. I think these are the tools and the people inside are ready to take over the situation once the regime is weakened."
