Iran Is Going Offline To Prevent Purported Israeli Cyberattacks 74
In response to escalating tensions with Israel, Iran has begun throttling internet access, with plans to disconnect from the global internet entirely to prevent Israeli cyberattacks. The Iranian government also urges citizens to delete WhatsApp -- one of the country's most popular messaging platforms -- claiming without evidence that the Meta-owned app has been weaponed by Israel to spy on its users. (WhatsApp vehemently denied those claims in a statement to the Associated Press.) Telegram is also said to be blocked as well. The Verge reports: The announcements come amidst the escalating war between Iran and Israel, which broke out after Israel attacked the country on June 12th, and a rise in reported internet outages. Civilians have claimed that they've been unable to access basic but critical telecommunications services, such as messaging apps, maps, and sometimes the internet itself. Cloudflare reported that two major Iranian cellular carriers effectively went offline on Tuesday, and The New York Times reports that even VPNs, which Iranians frequently use to access banned sites like Facebook and Instagram, have become increasingly harder to access. [...]
Israel's role in the cyber outages has not been officially confirmed, but independent analysts at NetBlocks noticed a significant reduction of internet traffic originating from Iran on Tuesday, starting at 5:30 PM local time. According to Tasnim, a news network affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Iranians will still have access to the country's state-operated national internet service, though two Iranian officials told the Times that the internal bandwidth could be reduced by up to 80 percent.
Israel's role in the cyber outages has not been officially confirmed, but independent analysts at NetBlocks noticed a significant reduction of internet traffic originating from Iran on Tuesday, starting at 5:30 PM local time. According to Tasnim, a news network affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Iranians will still have access to the country's state-operated national internet service, though two Iranian officials told the Times that the internal bandwidth could be reduced by up to 80 percent.
LOL (Score:2, Insightful)
The Iranian government also urges citizens to delete WhatsApp
The regime just doesn't want the people organizing and rising up to overthrow them.
Re:LOL (Score:4, Interesting)
Probably exactly this! It's not like the Mossad relies exclusively on local to Iran Internet access to communicate. Hey didn't I hear the Elon restored Starlink access to Iran lately or have I dreamt it? Might he have restored for Mossad? Anyway, all kinds of possibilities.
Re:LOL (Score:4, Interesting)
The regime just doesn't want the people organizing and rising up to overthrow them.
Well, even before that they don't want people to get external news and hear just how badly the regime is having its ass handed to it right now.
The IRGC has started putting out Baghdad Bob style statements about how they've achieve control of Israeli air-space and stuff.
Side effects (Score:2)
Side effects may include silencing of Iranian dissidents.
Re: Side effects (Score:1)
Well if the beatings don't do the job...
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Side effects (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, they were fine when they were fighting through the proxy they called Hamas, where all the collateral damage is in another country.
Now they're surprised the other side took the opportunity to step in when they continued to stall the nuclear anti-proliferation talks.
Re: (Score:2)
Did you see that Netanyahu admitted funding the various criminal and militia groups on Gaza? Did you know that he funded Hamas too? Don't forget all the state sponsored terrorism in the West Bank.
It's always been a proxy war, for both sides.
The bottom line is that Israel will always be a threat to Iran, because Israel is expansionist and well armed. Because it's an ethnostate that offers citizenship to Zionists who want to join that expansion, every other country in the region is threatened by them. The onl
Re: (Score:2)
It's not a proxy war. Iran has lost all its proxies. Israel is attacking it directly.
Re:Side effects (Score:5, Insightful)
The bottom line is that Israel will always be a threat to Iran, because Israel is expansionist and well armed. Because it's an ethnostate that offers citizenship to Zionists who want to join that expansion, every other country in the region is threatened by them. ...
I'm not a fan of the whole "settlement movement" Israel is allowing in the West Bank and wish they'd stop, but the thought that Israel would somehow expand to take over its neighbors (even a little) is numerically impossible.
There aren't even 15M Jews in the whole world (most of them in the US, apparently) and only like 7M in Israel and only a relatively small fraction of those have any interest in expansion. In fact since they want to be "a Jewish state" AND they're a democracy they have enough problems with the existing non Jewish Israelis and they don't want any more.
Jordan, with whom they are at peace anyway, has 11M people. Syria 25M, Iraq 45M. Lebanon 5M. Iran 85M , Egypt 110M
There are barely more Jews in Israel (7M) than the population of Lebanon. they couldn't expand even if they wanted to... unless they're all secretly (evil) Batman or something.
Re: (Score:2)
The "settlement movement" is a terrorist organization, state sponsored by Israel. The IDF and police provide security for them, as they steal land and illegally settle it, often murdering the occupants in the process.
Several high ranking members of the Israeli government and the IDF are known to support the idea of a Greater Israel, which includes parts of several neighbouring countries, including Iran. We know because they told us. They aren't even shy about it.
The very concept of a Jewish state, or any et
Re:Side effects (Score:4, Insightful)
Dude, regarding Israel expanding into Iran... it's 1000 miles and a couple of countries away.
geographically it's like New Jersey expanding to take over Minnesota.
Or like Belgium "expanding" into Ukraine.
Some screwballs want that, but most have zero interest and it's not going to happen any century soon, so don't let their delusions become yours.
(And again, there are only 7M jews in all of Israel, they're not going to magically subjugate the 300M people around them)
Re: Side effects (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Half of /. are ignorant cunts. The other half? Less ignorant cunts. Iran has supported terror worldwide. Everywhere but Antarctica, last I checked.
Re: (Score:2)
Just read Amimojo's posts. They're literally raving about how the evil jews want to colonize the entire middle east and kill all the Arabs... completely ignoring that Persians aren't Arabs, the Persians are literally spraypainting "thanks bibi" in farsi all over the place in Tehran and chanting "Death to Khamenei" while waving Israeli flags, and Israel's given up several times its own size in land for peace with surrounding Arab countries.
They're also completely ignoring that Jews used to live in Judea righ
Re: (Score:2)
The Iranians are cowards. They won't do shit.
Re: (Score:2)
They're only going to be any dissidents right now.
Coherent grammar is the first casualty of war.
Re: (Score:2)
Nothing of value has been lost. Whatever dissidents Iran has aren't worth much: they've had half a century to deal with their atavist strongmen with nothing to show for it. Obama tried buying off Iran: they just funded their proxies and bred another generation of fanatics. So were giving war a chance, before they have nukes. Our decades of patience has expired. No more rockets and parasails for pallys. No more Houthis firing missiles at everything. No more Hamas. No more Syrian civil war. No more c
Musk activated Starlink in Iran ... (Score:2)
Side effects may include silencing of Iranian dissidents.
Side effects easily overcome.
"Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, confirmed Saturday he turned on Starlink for Iranians after the Islamic regime limited its online services following the launch of Israeli attacks targeting Iranian nuclear facilities. Starlink, a satellite-based constellation made by SpaceX that gives people internet, especially in places where regular internet is hard to get. The satellites fly close to Earth and help provide fast internet with little delay."
https://www.jpost.com/middle-e... [jpost.com]
Re: (Score:2)
turned on Starlink for Iranians
Nice, now they just need the receptors and pay the service.
Re: (Score:2)
And hide them from view.
Gee, who didn't see this coming (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
A person who isn't interested in checking the facts is orders of magnitude better controlled than a person who can't.
Re: (Score:2)
Given Gen Z apparently get most of their news and "facts" from shills on tiktok and other social media we shouldn't be so smug in the west about being clued up.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, i made the same message and got modded down. I guess Iran controls /.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe. But unfortunately the foaming at the mouth delusional anti isreal leftists who infest the west and seem to be overrepresented on this site are enough. They pretend to have empathy but oddly they don't care about human rights abuse in china, tibet, russia, the middle east, myanmar, nigeria, kenya etc, but the second isreal does something these anti semites crawl out from under their stinking rocks and start making a noise.
Let's take a moment and ponder (Score:1)
What the middle east would be like today had we not over thrown the shah back in 1953. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Your link doesn't describe what you think it does.
That coup strengthened the shah's authority rather than overthrowing him.
It was the 1979 revolution that overthrew the shah.
Re: Let's take a moment and ponder (Score:1)
Let's take the other counterfactual by consulting present reality. Let's say Mosadegh got into power and cozied up to the Soviets in the 50s. Okay cool. What would it have looked like if Iran were aligned against the West and with the Russians? Well...that's the facts on the ground now and it doesn't seem to be working out for them given that their leadership is being bombed out of existence and the Russians can't do anything for them.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, if we'd left Mosadegh alone it's unknown whether he'd really have gone with Russia or not, but even if he did the whole arc of the middle east would possibly have been different.
Especially Iran wouldn't be so hung up on Israel's existence and destruction so Hezbollah likely would never have existed, and just the whole "Axis of Resistance" thing. So this whole event would be unlikely to be happening both because Israel would have no reason to do it and because probably Iran itself would've been more p
Re: (Score:2)
the 1953 coup had nothing to do with the Russians. It was all about preventing the elected government from nationalising the oil. (Which belonged to western oil companies.)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
It's got the third most petroleum reserves in the world so a much richer Jordan.
Iran goes off line to control its people (Score:2, Insightful)
Iran doesn't give one fuck if the people of Iran get hacked. The Iranian tyrants realize that the internet will allow people to organize, kill their tyrants, and liberate themselves. The ayatollahs are evil cowards. I can't wait for Israel to give them their just desserts, but I'd prefer the Iranian people do the job for themselves.
I'm surprised (Score:2)
They haven't already blocked WhatsApp?
It's owned by the same Jewish CEO as Facebook and Instagram.
Re: (Score:2)
Kind of true. Our taxes pay for Israel's munitions. For an administration that is supposedly all about cutting government waste and spending they sure do overlook the Israel tally. https://www.cfr.org/article/us... [cfr.org]
I'd rather Israel fund their genocide operation on their dime.
Regime flip (Score:2)
Cutting off people's internet is a good way to accelerate regime flip.
A question (Score:2)
If it is morally justifiable to assassinate Iran's leader, then is it equally morally justifiable to assassinate the leaders of other countries who may pose a threat to yours?
Morals? (Score:2)
Bitch, this is war. Morals are for losers, literally. Morals don't matter here at all. Israel is trying to ensure its safety. If that means bombing the ayatollah of rock n rolla, then they will bomb. If that means making a deal, they will make a deal. If that means parachuting 500 troops in then helicoptering them out along with all the fissile material, they'll do that. If that means nuking Tehran, they'll do that too, but with compete air superiority, doing so may be unnecessary.
Meanwhile, Iran has
afraid (Score:3)
The Iranian government also urges citizens to delete WhatsApp
Afraid that the Iranian people finally rise up against the Mullah regime? Control of communications is high on the dictatorship 101 list.
Re: (Score:2)
Unfortunately this latest Israeli attack is having the opposite effect. The more hard line elements of the regime were losing power, due to a series of unpopular mistakes like the Morality Police brutalizing girls and women, and the women's rights movement in general, as well as the economic benefits of liberalization and better international relations.
Nothing like a war to consolidate power.
Re: (Score:2)
It is laughable you would even mention a women's rights movement in Iran. What movement? There is no movement.
Uh... it even has its own Wikipedia page: women, life, freedom [wikipedia.org].
It was pretty much all over western media for a while. Before some B-stars affair, divorce or whatever became more important
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Unfortunately this latest Israeli attack is having the opposite effect.
According to some sources. Other sources say the opposite. I guess we need to wait and see.
Re: (Score:2)
For anyone wondering just how disconnected from reality AmiMoJo is by their rabid jewhate: Iranians are literally spraypainting "thanks bibi" in farsi in Tehran and filming themselves screaming "Death to Khamenei" and waving Iranian+Israeli flags.
AmiMoJo just hates Jews so much that they're siding with the regime's propaganda over the Iranian people because Israel is involved.
Re: afraid (Score:2)
WhatsApp (Score:4, Informative)
Of COURSE WhatsApp spies on its users. You think Facebook paid billions because they like the color?
I think that bombs destroyed their internet (Score:1)
Re: I think that bombs destroyed their internet (Score:1)
It was announced in advance which wouldn't make sense for what you are suggesting.
Mission accomplished, I guess (Score:2)
Total war (Score:1)
Makes sense for Iran to control lines of communication as best as it can. They are the weaker force and need to fight as hard as they can to gain any kind of advantage.
We've all seen from action in Gaza, Lebanon and the past attacks on Iranians that the Israelis are absolutely brutal and take no hostages. For Iran as the weaker power against Israel with its superpower ally, it is an existential war against a genocidal regime. For all the faults and crimes of the Islamists in charge of the Iran, Israeli pres