Iran largely offline

Iran largely went offline on Wednesday. According to Netblocks, the number of observed connections dropped to a single-digit percentage. Cloudflare Radar also shows that the observed Iranian data traffic on Wednesday afternoon fell to single-digit percentages of the historical maximum and the comparable value from seven days earlier.

In the RIPE Atlas sensor system, only half a dozen of the 100 recently active measuring points in Iran appear to be accessible. A government spokeswoman confirmed on Iranian television that the internet block was a deliberate measure to make IT attacks by “the enemy” impossible. Iran and Israel are currently at war. Israel is bombing Iran with the aim of preventing it from building nuclear bombs; Iran is firing missiles at Israel in retaliation.

However, the government representative did not speak of a shutdown of Internet connections, but of their slowing down. Since the recent outbreak of hostilities, there have been several fluctuations in the Islamic Republic's Internet connection, although SSH connections were often still possible. Port 22, which is usually used for this purpose, has now also been blocked. The situation can change at any time.

The Iranian asked not to publish “unverified messages or images that are provocative or suggest violence”. The internet shutdown also fits in with this: not only does it largely prevent IT attacks from outside, it also makes it more difficult to disseminate images from inside the country in a timely manner, be it of bomb damage or Iranian missile launches or military transport. Both can be valuable information for the next attacks on Iran, as well as motivation for revolutionaries at home.

Spokesperson: “Ignore warning text messages”

Israel is apparently trying to warn Iran's civilian population about the bombs and drones. SMS messages are calling on recipients to evacuate. However, the Iranian government spokeswoman urged her compatriots to ignore these messages in her televised address. It was a case of “psychological warfare”. She also confirmed that the Iranian stock exchange is closed and will remain closed until stability and peace return.

Iran has more than 90 million inhabitants, making it one of the 20 most populous countries in the world. With more than 1.6 million square kilometers, the country is around 4.6 times the size of Germany. The satellite operator Starlink has activated its Internet access service for the territory of Iran, much to the annoyance of the Iranian government. It has not granted Starlink a license and considers its operation to be illegal. Importing the necessary hardware is prohibited, and paying Starlink fees from Iran is difficult.

A group claiming to be pro-Israeli has claimed responsibility for IT attacks on an Iranian bank and an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange; the group states that its motive is to combat the circumvention of international sanctions. The bank's systems are said to have been disrupted. According to Chainalasys, cryptocurrency units worth more than 90 million dollars were withdrawn from the cryptocurrency exchange, but destroyed rather than stolen. (ds)