How 'Handala' Became the Face of Iran's Hacker Counterattacks

"We announce to the world that, in retaliation for the brutal attack on the Minab school and in response to ongoing cyber assaults against the infrastructure of the Axis of Resistance, our major cyber operation has been executed with complete success. This is only the beginning of a new era of cyber warfare."

"Late Tuesday night, the first of those attacks arrived in the US: a devastating breach of the medical technology firm Stryker that has reportedly disabled as many as tens of thousands of computers and paralyzed much of the company's global operations-all carried out by an Iranian hacker group that calls itself Handala."

"Those who have followed the group's evolution, particularly in Israel's cybersecurity industry, say the group is now widely believed to be a front for Iran's Ministry of Intelligence, or MOIS. They've seen the hackers become the most prominent player in a wave of Iranian state cyber operators who pose as hacktivists."

Following US and Israel airstrikes on Iran in late February, cybersecurity experts anticipated Iranian retaliatory cyberattacks. The Handala hacker group executed a devastating breach of Stryker, a medical technology company, disabling tens of thousands of computers and paralyzing global operations. Handala claimed responsibility, stating the attack retaliated for the Minab school bombing and ongoing cyber assaults against Iranian infrastructure. The group, named after a Palestinian political cartoon character, is believed by Israeli cybersecurity researchers to be a front for Iran's Ministry of Intelligence. Handala represents a broader pattern of Iranian state-sponsored cyber operators posing as hacktivists to conduct disruptive attacks against Western targets.

Read at WIRED