Iranian government might be behind a huge cyberattack on millions of citizen’s bank accounts after anti-government protests in November, The New York Times published a report late on Tuesday.
“The details of millions of Iranian bank cards were published online after antigovernment protests last month. Experts suspect a state-sponsored cyberattack,” said the report.
The breach targeted customers of the country’s three largest banks and the number of affected accounts are close to a fifth of Iran’s population, according to the report.
Iran’s information and telecommunications minister, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said the breach is a data theft by a bank employee who had access to the accounts and revealed them as a part of extortion attempt.
Jahromi has denied the banking system had been hacked. “outside cyberexperts disputed that claim. They also said a breach of such magnitude was likely the work of a state entity aiming to stoke instability, not criminals whose objective is blackmail for financial gain,” the report said.
