An Iranian opposition group says it has hacked more than 5,000 surveillance cameras in Tehran to coincide with the commemoration of the death of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The Mujahedin-e Khalq (MKO) released a video clip showing the Tehran municipality website and others with a graphic overlay that criticized the “anti-human Khomeini.” It also included an image of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with a red “X” over his face, as well as images of MKO leaders Massoud Rajavi and his wife, Maryam Rajavi, while calling for an “uprising until overthrow.”
The Young Journalists Club, an affiliate of Iranian state television, acknowledged the hack, writing on Twitter that "part of the network of municipal surveillance cameras, as well as service infrastructure such as the Tehran Municipality site and also part of internal automation sites and other employee communication systems is disrupted."
The attack comes after some 50 systems of the Agriculture Ministry were targeted and hacked in early May.
In that case, the same group of hackers who supported the MKO called Uprising To Overthrow claimed responsibility for the cyberattack.
Hacker attacks on important and sensitive infrastructure in Iran have increased significantly in recent years.
Last October, an assault on Iran’s fuel distribution system paralyzed gas stations nationwide, leading to long lines of angry motorists unable to get subsidized fuel for days. A cyberattack on Iran’s railway system caused chaos and train delays. Another hack leaked footage of abuses at the notorious Evin prison.
The MKO is a former armed leftist group regarded by some as a cult that for years was considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Britain.
The MKO participated in the Islamic Revolution that toppled the Shah in 1979, but it was soon branded as a threat by the new clerical establishment.
The group launched an armed conflict against the Islamic regime in 1981, carrying out numerous attacks against Iranian targets from exile in neighboring Iraq.
Following the MKO’s failed invasion of Iran in 1988, thousands of prisoners affiliated with the group were executed in Iran.
About 2,500 members of the MKO were moved from Iraq to Albania in 2013. The group was removed from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations in 2012.