The US Treasury Department has slapped fresh sanctions against Iran for engaging in a cyberattack on Albania.
According to Security Week, the new sanctions designate Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and its Minister of Intelligence for engaging in a cyberattack against the US and its allies.
The Treasury said, “Since at least 2007, the MOIS and its cyber actor proxies have conducted malicious cyber operations targeting a range of government and private-sector organizations around the world and across various critical infrastructure sectors.
“In July 2022, cyber threat actors assessed to be sponsored by the Government of Iran and MOIS disrupted Albanian government computer systems, forcing the government to suspend online public services for its citizens.”
The Department remarked that Tehran failed to ‘adhere to a norm on refraining from damaging critical infrastructure that provides services to the public’.
The Treasury Department warned that Iran’s MOIS, under the leadership of Esmail Khatib, directs several networks of cyber threat actors involved in cyber espionage and ransomware attacks in support of Iran’s political goals.
The US government said, “In addition to conducting a malicious cyber activity that affected Albanian government websites, MOIS cyber actors were also responsible for the leaking of documents purported to be from the Albanian government and personal information associated with Albanian residents.”
Earlier this year, the US House of Representatives passed the Energy Cybersecurity University Leadership Act and the RANSOMWARE Act.
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