News brief: Iranian hacking group being compromised by Russian hackers

by  Joel Lara

Oil-rig, an Iranian hacking group, has been hacked by a Russian-based group, according to the  BBC news.

 The Russian group, Turla,  hacked the Iranians to get their stolen information. Turla started its attack in UK academic institutions by scanning for capabilities and tools used by Oil-rig to collect data and compromise  further systems.

 After hacking Oil-Rig, 35  countries were compromised. Paul Chichester, director of operations for the NCSC agency, said, “We want to send a clear message that even when cyber-actors seek to mask their identity, our capabilities are a match for them and we can identify them.” The NCSC said they won’t directly attribute the attack to Russia or Iran but Turla has been linked to other Russian security services. 

(Photo by: FT montage)

 This case primarily started in the U.K but as details were revealed a report of Turla compromising another espionage group was made by a security company Symantec. Chichester said that revealing details were intended to help others detect the activity and protect themselves.