Iran International has learned that "Tosan," the company whose system was used in the hacking of over 20 Iranian banks, is now under control of security agencies, with its employees being interrogated.
Earlier in the week, Politico reported that an Iranian entity paid hackers $3 million in ransom to dissuade them from releasing the data of over 20 hacked banks, confirming Iran International’s earlier report about the “biggest-ever” cyberattack on Iran’s banking system.
Iran International reported on August 14 that the major cyberattack targeted several Iranian banks, leading to the theft of a huge amount of data. Initial assessments indicated at the time this could be one of the largest cyberattacks ever against Iranian state infrastructure, even though Iranian officials kept mum about the revelation.
In its report on Wednesday, Politico wrote that the cyberattack targeted 20 of the 29 active credit institutions in Iran, threatening the stability of the Islamic Republic's banking system. The report said it appears to be the “worst cyberattack” against the country.
Citing unnamed sources, Politico noted that the group “IRLeaks” which has a history of hacking Iranian companies, is likely behind the cyberattack.
“IRleaks entered the banks’ servers via a company called Tosan, which provides data and other digital services to Iran’s financial sector,” the officials told Politico. “Using Tosan as a Trojan horse, the hackers appear to have siphoned data from both private banks and Iran’s central bank... The regime ultimately forced Tosan to pay the IRLeaks ransom.”
The report said the affected banks included “the Bank of Industry and Mines, Mehr Interest-Free Bank, Post Bank of Iran, Iran Zamin Bank, Sarmayeh Bank, Iran-Venezuela Bi-National Bank, Bank Day, Bank-e Shahr, Eghtesad Novin Bank, and Saman, which also has branches in Italy and Germany.”
The same hacker group, IRLeaks, had earlier in December 2023 claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on Snapp Food, the country's largest food delivery app, boasting access to the personal details of over 20 million users, and exposing a vast trove of sensitive information.
The compromised data, reportedly up for sale at $30,000, included usernames, passwords, email addresses, full names, and mobile numbers. The hackers claimed to possess detailed information on over 51 million user addresses, complete with GPS coordinates and phone numbers.
In that case, too, ransom money was paid to dissuade the hackers from releasing the personal data of Iranian users.
Also in September 2023, the hacking group reported a breach on the ride-hailing service Tapsi, affecting more than 33 million users. The hackers claimed to have engaged in negotiations with Tapsi's management for two weeks before making the breach public. However, the company refused to meet the hackers' demand of $35,000.
The recurrent nature of such incidents in Iran highlights the absence of stringent laws and penalties for negligence in safeguarding private information.
The lack of user rights, including the inability to request the deletion of personal data, underscores the urgency for regulatory reforms to address the growing threat of information leaks in the country.
The officials, members of the Supreme Council of the Stock Exchange, orchestrated the generous loans with lenient repayment periods and minimal interest rates while Iran’s economy remains on the brink of collapse.
Majid Eshghi, Chairman of the Board of the Securities and Exchange Organization, received the largest loan, 27 billion rials ($45,000), with just 4% interest over a 10 year period. To put this amount in perspective, and ordinary worker in Iran earns just $200 a month.
The loans were approved during the final days of the Raisi government, bypassing orders from both acting president Mohammad Mokhber and president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian. Experts warn that the move threatens to destabilize Iran’s capital market by further eroding investor confidence.
Other council members, including Alireza Nasserpour, Reza Eivazlou, Mehrdad Masoudifar, and Hassan Farajzadeh Dehkurdi, each received 19 billion rials (over $31,000) in loans.
On Thursday, Abdolnasser Hemmati, Iran’s Minister of Economy, announced the launch of an “urgent expert review” into the scandal. Many view this as a mere formality, with little expectation of accountability in a system where officials have long shielded themselves from public scrutiny.
Iman Aghayari, a political activist, told Iran International that corruption in Iran has evolved into a kleptocracy, becoming ingrained as a behavioral model. “At the top, there is a person [Ali Khamenei] who treats the entire country as his personal property, and at the lower levels, others believe they must plunder the limited resources available to them," he said.
Iran’s Central Bank is already under fire for reports of astronomical loans being granted by major banks to their own employees and subsidiaries. According to a report released by the Central Bank last week, these institutions funneled over 9,100 trillion rials ($1.5 billion) in loans to their employees, managers, and board members in 2023 alone.
Two of the most politically influential banks, Mellat and Sepah, are the lead suspects, both notorious for their involvement in Tehran’s military and nuclear programs, which have brought crippling international sanctions upon Iran. Mellat Bank alone issued 190 trillion rials ($315 million) in loans to its subsidiaries last year, with Sepah Bank not far behind, distributing 145 trillion rials ($240 million).
Not only are these government banks controlled by regime insiders, but their subsidiary companies also serve as strongholds for political appointees and nepotism.
In contrast, ordinary Iranians face challenges securing loans for housing, marriage, or entrepreneurship, with delays and denials becoming the norm. Marriage loans, crucial for thousands of young couples, have been sidelined, while bank employees are handed fortunes with ease.
The disparity in access to loans is vast between Iran's elite and the ordinary citizen. For bank employees, loan ceilings can reach over 10 billion rials ($16,000), while retirees, struggling to survive on meagre pensions, are limited to loans of just 300 million rials ($500). Meanwhile, tenants and entrepreneurs face long waiting lists as banks cite financial shortfalls.
Around one in three Iranians now lives below the poverty line as inflation has exceeded 40% for the last five years leaving many struggling with basic costs such as food and housing.
Senator Chuck Grassley released whistleblower information from FBI records amid Trump’s latest presidential bid and in the wake of a failed assassination attempt against Trump just weeks ago, which Iran denied links to.
In a statement, Grassley said: ”Bad actors are determined to wreak havoc on our country, and American political leaders across both parties are sitting squarely in the crosshairs.
“In this extraordinarily heightened threat environment, federal agencies ought to be laser focused on building up public trust and reassuring the American people of their efforts to carry out their protective missions."
He vowed he will not "stop pressing for answers until Congress and the American people are afforded the transparency they deserve.”
Asif Merchant, a Pakistani with known ties to Iran, has been charged for his involvement and according to the FBI documentation, provided evidence to the FBI in a plea deal. He was arrested just one day before the July assassination attempt.
According to the FBI records, Merchant believed he was in for a kill-for-hire scheme that would offer him a cut of $50,000 for successful completion. He had told FBI interrogators that there were options for shooting former President Trump at both indoor and outdoor speaking engagements.
The Pakistani, 46, told investigators that he could hit a target up close or from further away, that a pistol would be best for indoors, but a rifle was necessary otherwise. He is said to have believed he had about a 50% chance of success.
English language notes were smuggled by Merchant’s family members to communicate with his handlers in Iran.
While the FBI has still not commented on the July assassination attempt on Trump by Thomas Matthew Crooks, while investigations continue, the option of it having been an Iranian plot has not been ruled out.
Security had been increased in June based on intelligence suggesting plots to kill him as Iran continues to vow revenge for Soleimani, killed in a drone strike in Iraq in 2020, ordered by Trump for his involvement in terror targeting US troops.
According to the justice department's indictment, Merchant arrived in the US from Pakistan in April after having spent time in Iran, when he contacted someone he thought would help him enact the plot. The unnamed contact reported him to the authorities.
Merchant had apparently told the contact he would leave the US before the killings, staying in contact only through code words.
FBI director Christopher Wray called the scheme a "dangerous murder-for-hire plot... straight out of the Iranian playbook".
Last year, the US listed Iran as the world's number one state sponsor of terrorism while plots to kill dissidents, Israeli and Jewish targets around the world have become increasingly more common.
Demanding transparency from security agencies, Grassley said that a DHS-FBI briefing from earlier this week "yet again failed to provide full transparency, necessitating this letter and the public disclosure of the unclassified proffer.”
Baku has been demanding a corridor through southern Armenia to connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan enclave separated by Armenian territory.
As commentators and pundits in Tehran were criticizing Russian policy this week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi issued a post on X on Thursday saying, "Regional peace, security and stability is not merely a preference, but a pillar of our national security. Any threat from North, South, East, or West to territorial integrity of our neighbors or redrawing of boundaries is totally unacceptable and a red line for Iran."
Moscow and Baku want Russia to monitor and control the corridor which can serve as a significant route for trade and energy transport between Asia and Europe, but Yerevan and Tehran are opposed to such a scheme and argue that even if a transport route were to be established, Armenia should have control over it.
Former chairman of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, claimed in a Thursday X post that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s push for the establishment of the Zangezur corridor is a “preemptive move” to pressure Iran. According to Falahatpisheh, this is intended to deter Pezeshkian's government from opening "communication channels" with Washington.
Putin is aware that, despite Iran’s failed pro-Russia and pro-China policy, the key message of the recent presidential election was a call for de-escalation in relations with the West and a move away from dependence on Eastern powers, he argued.
Similarly, Iranian journalist Maryam Salari argues that Moscow's disregard for Tehran’s opposition to the Zangezur corridor must be understood in the context of Masoud Pezeshkian's election and his emphasis on negotiating with the West to lift U.S. sanctions.
“Raisi's Eastward-focused foreign policy had reassured Putin about Iran’s stance, but Pezeshkian's candidacy and his pledge to prioritize negotiations with the West to lift sanctions have unsettled Russia's regional plans,” Salari posted on X.
Russia’s prolonged delay in signing a 20-year comprehensive cooperation agreement with Iran, despite the support Iran has provided in the Ukraine conflict, has increasingly frustrated the Islamic Republic. This hesitation from Moscow has sparked irritation in Tehran, especially given the significant assistance Iran has offered.
“Russia has never cared about Iran's interests … This corridor blocks Iran's access to Europe through Armenia,” the conservative former lawmaker Ali Motahari tweeted Thursday and urged the government of Masoud Pezeshkian to be “perceptive” regarding the establishment of Zangezur corridor.
Tehran recently summoned the Russian Ambassador, Alexi Dedov, to the foreign ministry over the matter and congratulated Ukraine last month on its independence day. The move could be interpreted as an overture to Ukraine and an affront to Russia, according to some pundits.
In an editorial Thursday entitled “Russia’s Geopolitical Coup Against Iran”, the reformist Arman-e Emrooz daily criticized the foreign ministry’s reaction to Russia’s insistence on establishing the corridor.
“The foreign ministry’s reaction has not been sufficiently decisive and deterrent despite the irreparable damage caused by Russia's position which practically leads to the geopolitical suffocation of Iran at its the northern borders,” Arman-e Emrouz contended.
Not only reformists but also the media linked with the Revolutionary Guard have been criticizing the shift in Moscow’s policy.
“Russia has been also advised to avoid taking measures that may impair the strategic relations between Moscow and Tehran, because the idea of the Zangezur corridor will create a new flashpoint near the very delicate boundaries of northwestern Iran,” the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) linked Tasnim news agency warned Wednesday in an editorial on its English portal.
The Persian version of Tasnim’s editorial on the subject was stronger in tone, stressing that “Iran will not accept any changes in its borders and its security peripheries” and underlines that “confronting international bullies is a fundamental strategy” of the Islamic Republic. The editorial also called the corridor “imaginary” and reminded the summoning of the Russian ambassador.
Iranian journalist Mohammad Parsi also took to X to protest that the Islamic Republic still considers Russia as a “friend and strategic ally” althoughMoscow sided with Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran, stood alongside the United States when the UN Security Council passed resolutions against Iran, supported European sanctions, and supports Azerbaijan’s demand regarding Zangezur. “What does this mean?” he asked.
“Russia’s illusions and problems should not distract our country from its own national interests,” Hadi Mohammadi, another Iranian journalist, posted on X.