On Thursday 24th May, the airport screens at Mashhad city in northeast Iran were hacked and defaced by an unknown group of hackers with messages against the Iranian government.
The hackers left images on the arrival and departure monitor screens at the airport displaying statements against the Iranian government and military’s activities and presence in the Middle East.
According to Radio Farda, the messages were left in the Persian language which when translated into English accused the Iranian government of wasting Iranian lives and resources in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza.
“Wasting Iranians lives and financial resources in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC),” said the deface message.
Moreover, hackers hacked into the official email account of Mohsen Eidizadeh, the head of Mashad airport civil aviation and used it to spread the word about their hack. Additionally, the group urged Iranians to take snapshots of deface screens and use social media platforms to spread the word using the hashtag “Protests_alloverthecountry.”
Hackers take control of monitors at Iran’s Mashhad Airport displaying signs in support of #IranProtests. The signs reads “How much longer?” and carry the Farsi hashtag calling for nationwide protests. #اعتراضات_سراسری#FreeIran2018 #IranRegimeChange (May 24, 2018) pic.twitter.com/y5J7CzLiek
— M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) May 25, 2018
Here are two of the snapshots taken by passengers at Mashhad airport and shared on Twitter:
It is noteworthy that Mashhad is the same city where between December 2017 and January 2018 Iranians conducted protests against high prices in the country. The same protests resulted in a complete ban on Telegram in Iran.
Lately, there has been an increase in cyber attacks against Iran. In April this year, pro-American hackers hijacked Cisco devices in Iran and Russia by exploiting vulnerabilities in Smart Install feature. The hackers then left the image of the US flag and a message demanding both countries to “Don’t mess with our elections.”
