Iran hacks CCTV at Israel's Haifa, Ashdod ports

Hackers affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have published videos yesterday obtained from security cameras at two of Israel’s largest seaports, in addition to leaking details of hundreds of workers at the sites.

According to the Times of Israel, the group claimed they hacked the CCTV of the Ashdod and Haifa ports, sharing the footage on a Telegram channel. The camera recordings show workers sitting at their desks and the access gates, says the report.

Personal information, including identification papers was also posted in the video, although both ports told Israel’s Channel 13 news broadcaster that the footage was not taken from their security cameras, instead were obtained from a company that operated the cameras and were dated.

Iran’s Shahrara News reported the hack allegedly took place in March 2014.

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However, it is still not yet clear how the hackers were able to get hold of the workers’ personal information.

Information Security researchers SentinelLabs identified what they say is an “Iranian-aligned threat actor” operating in the Middle East and the US and who they have named “TunnelVision” due to its “heavy reliance” on tunnelling tools used in ransomware operations and in particular the Log4j vulnerability.

Yesterday’s hacking is speculated to be in retaliation for a major cyberattack on an Iranian port in 2020 which was blamed on Israel. The Shahid Rajaee port off the coast of Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz was brought to a standstill after computers regulating shipping traffic crashed simultaneously, causing massive backups.

Although Israel rarely publicly acknowledges its cyberattacks, it has also been suspected of being behind several other operations against Iran, most notably Iran’s main nuclear facility, in Natanz causing a blackout last year.

READ: Opposition group hacks Iran state TV