Iran’s internet shutdown extends for more than 2 days amid US-Israel cyberattack reports
Iran is reportedly facing a near-total nationwide internet shutdown, leaving over 90 million people in the dark for more than 48 hours. The blackout comes amid the ongoing war between Iran, and the US and Israel. Citing data from the independent internet watchdog NetBlocks, CNBC reported that the connectivity dropped to 1% of ordinary levels as of early Monday morning. While the Iranian government has not officially commented on the outage, NetBlocks noted that these shutdowns are a “go-to tactic” for the regime, as per the report. A similar blackout in January lasted several weeks, which human rights groups claim was used to mask internal crackdowns during widespread protests.Citing Internet analyst Doug Madory, the report also noted that the tiny amount of traffic which is leaking out of the country is likely due to a “whitelisting” system, which allows the government to keep the internet running for a select few. These may be the groups and officials loyal to the regime while the services cut off the general public.
Iran reportedly hit by cyberattacks
The internet blackout isn’t the only digital struggle Iran is said to be facing. Reports suggest that US and Israeli hackers have been carrying out sophisticated attacks on the country’s infrastructure.According to WIRED, a wave of cyber operations took place on Saturday wherein just minutes after the first set of explosions, Iranians reportedly received slew of notifications on their phones. These notifications were not from the government advising caution, but from the prayer timing app called ‘BadeSaba Calendar’. The app has 5 million-plus downloads on Google Play Store in the country. According to a report, these messages arrived in quick succession over a period of 30 minutes. All push notifications were titled “Help is on the way” and were in Farsi language.These messages urged Iranian military personnel to surrender their weapons with the promise of amnesty. It also reportedly asked the army personnel to join “the forces of liberation” and to “defend your brothers”. “The time for revenge has come,” said another notification received at 10:02 AM read. “The regime’s repressive forces will pay for their cruel and merciless actions against the innocent people of Iran. Anyone who joins in defending and protecting the Iranian nation will be granted amnesty and forgiveness.”CNBC report noted that experts have warned that a “cyber retaliation” from Iran is likely coming next.
