State-backed Iranian hackers target aviation sector

Hackers who compromised a US aerospace organisation were working on behalf of the Iranian government, according to researchers.

The cyber-espionage group, known as APT 33, has been targeting multiple companies with aviation-related partnerships with Saudi Arabia, according to an intelligence report by cybersecurity firm FireEye.

The group could be looking for insights on Saudi Arabia's military aviation capabilities to enhance Iran's domestic capabilities or for intelligence to support its military and strategic decision making.

Organisations in the aerospace and petrochemical industries in the US, Saudia Arabia and South Korea have been targeted by the group.

While the attacks carried out against those organisations were similar enough to be attributed to the same group, the identity of the group had not been established until now.

"One of the things we see with intelligence organisations worldwide is their obfuscation tactics, so there's almost never perfect confidence, but we've seen a lot of clues that this is Iranian," FireEye's John Hultquist told Sky News.

Aside from the technical relationship between APT 33's code - which included Farsi language artefacts -the time of the hacking activities also corresponded with the Iranian working week, Saturday to Wednesday.

But the biggest clue, according to FireEye, were the targets that the hackers had been going after.

Iran has spoken out about Saudi Arabia's armament, accusing the US of selling weapons to "dangerous terrorists" when President Trump visited in May.

While APT 33 has mainly focused on cyber-espionage at the moment - ultimately considered an expected and acceptable state activity - it has also been connected to the destructive malware.

"They could become a much more serious risk if geopolitics shift. If the Iranians become more aggressive their mission could change overnight," said FireEye's expert.

Last year, seven hackers allegedly tied to the Iranian government were charged with attacks on a small dam outside of New York City and dozens of banks.

(SKY NEWS)