An Iranian hacking group ran a fake professional recruiting business to lure national security officials across Iran, Syria and Lebanon into a cyber espionage trap, according to new research by US cybersecurity firm Mandiant, a division of Alphabet’s Google Cloud. Researchers said the hackers are loosely connected to a group known as APT42 or Charming Kitten, which was recently accused of hacking the US presidential campaign of Republican candidate Donald Trump. APT42 is widely attributed to an intelligence division of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, an expansive military organization based in Tehran. The FBI has said it is investigating APT42’s ongoing efforts to interfere in the 2024 US election.
The mission uncovered by Mandiant dates back to at least 2017 and was active until recently. At different times, the Iranians made their operation appear as if it was controlled by Israelis. Analysts say the likely purpose of the impersonation was to identify individuals in the Middle East who were willing to sell secrets to Israel and other Western governments. It targeted military and intelligence staff associated with Iran’s allies in the region.
“The data collected by this campaign may support the Iranian intelligence apparatus in pinpointing individuals who are interested in collaborating with Iran’s perceived adversarial countries,” the Mandiant report said. “The collected data may be leveraged to uncover human intelligence (HUMINT) operations conducted against Iran and to persecute any Iranians suspected to be involved in these operations.”
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mandiant found that the digital spies used a network of websites impersonating human resources companies to manipulate Farsi-speaking targets. The bogus firms were named VIP Human Solutions, also known as VIP Recruitment, Optima HR and Kandovan HR, among others. They leveraged dozens of inauthentic online profiles on Telegram, Twitter, YouTube and social media platform Virasty, which is popular in Iran, to promote the front companies. Nearly all the associated Internet accounts have since been removed.
“VIP Recruitment, a center for recruiting respected military personnel into the army, security services and intelligence from Syria and Hezbollah, Lebanon,” said a statement on one of the websites. “Join us to help each other impact the world. Our duty is to protect your privacy.”
The hackers cast a wide net by using various social media platforms to disseminate links about their fake HR scheme. It is unclear how many targets ultimately fell for the ruse. The collected data, which included addresses, contact details and other resume-related data, could still be exploited in the future, Mandiant said.
Iran operated fake human-resources firm to root out unfriendly spies, researchers say
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Iran operated fake human-resources firm to root out unfriendly spies, researchers say
- The hackers cast a wide net by using various social media platforms to disseminate links about their fake HR scheme
Conclave to elect new pope starts May 7: Vatican
- The date for the conclave has not yet been set but it can only begin after a nine-day period of mourning
- For inspiration they will also have the great beauty of the frescos painted by Michelangelo and other renowned Renaissance artists
VATICAN CITY: Catholic cardinals meeting in Rome on Monday have set May 7 as the start date for the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, the Vatican spokesman said.
The cardinals will take part in a solemn mass at St Peter’s Basilica, after which those eligible to vote will gather in the Sistine Chapel for the secretive ballot, spokesman Matteo Bruni said.
The Vatican on Monday closed the Sistine Chapel to begin preparations for the conclave, during which Catholic cardinals from around the world cast ballots to elect a new pope.
“Notice is hereby given that the Sistine Chapel will be closed to the public as of Monday 28 April 2025 for the requirements of the conclave,” the Vatican Museums said on its website, ahead of an expected announcement of the conclave date.
Gerry Adams’ defamation case against BBC opens in Dublin
- A BBC Northern Ireland ‘Spotlight’ investigation broadcast in 2016 alleged that Adams sanctioned the 2006 murder of former Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson
DUBLIN: A defamation case brought by former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams against the BBC over a program alleging he was involved in killing a British spy opened in Dublin on Monday.
A BBC Northern Ireland “Spotlight” investigation broadcast in 2016 alleged that Adams sanctioned the 2006 murder of former Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson.
At a press conference in 2005, Adams revealed that Donaldson spied for the British intelligence agency MI5.
The 55-year-old, who later admitted working as a British agent, was found shot dead in County Donegal, where he lived close to the Northern Ireland border.
In 2009, dissident Irish republican paramilitary group the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the murder.
The BBC program featured testimonies that claimed Adams sanctioned the killing.
Adams denies the accusations and is suing the BBC for damages over the “Spotlight” episode and an article on the BBC website that he alleges are defamatory.
The case at Dublin’s High Court is expected to last around three weeks.
In total, more than 3,600 people were killed during Northern Ireland’s sectarian conflict known as the “Troubles,” which largely ended after a 1998 peace accord.
In 2018 Adams stepped down as leader of Sinn Fein – the pro-Irish unity paramilitary IRA’s political wing during the Troubles – and has always denied being a member of the IRA.
China, Philippines trade barbs over disputed reef
- The Sandy Cay reef lies near Thitu Island, or Pag-asa, where the Philippines stations troops and maintains a coast guard monitoring base
- Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Saturday that the country’s coast guard had ‘implemented maritime control’ over Tiexian Reef, part of Sandy Cay
MANILA: China and the Philippines on Monday defended their claims to a disputed reef in the South China Sea, after Manila accused Beijing of seeking to “intimidate and harass” with a state media report that suggested the area had been seized.
The Sandy Cay reef lies near Thitu Island, or Pag-asa, where the Philippines stations troops and maintains a coast guard monitoring base.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Saturday that the country’s coast guard had “implemented maritime control” over Tiexian Reef, part of Sandy Cay, in mid-April.
The Philippines and China have been engaged in months of confrontations over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims nearly in its entirety despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
“There is no truth whatsoever to the claim of the China Coast Guard that the (Sandy Cay sandbanks) have been seized,” National Security Council spokesman Jonathan Malaya told a Monday press conference.
“It’s in the interest of the People’s Republic of China to use the information space to intimidate and harass,” he said, calling the Sandy Cay report a “made-up” story that had been “irresponsible” to disseminate.
CCTV on Saturday published a photograph of four coast guard officials posing with a national flag on the reef’s white surface, in what the broadcaster described as a “vow of sovereignty.”
On Monday, the Philippine Coast Guard released its own photo showing Filipino sailors holding the country’s flag over the same disputed reef during an early morning mission the day before.
There do not appear to be any signs that China has permanently occupied or built a structure on the reef, which is a group of small sandbanks in the Spratly Islands.
Beijing’s foreign ministry on Monday reiterated the reef was part of China’s territory and said its moves constituted “rights protection and law enforcement activities.”
Spokesman Guo Jiakun said the steps were “aimed at countering the Philippines’ illegal landing and other acts of infringement and provocation” as well as “firmly safeguarding national territorial sovereignty.”
In recent months, Beijing and Manila have blamed each other for causing what they describe as the ecological degradation of several disputed landforms in the South China Sea.
The US and Philippine militaries are currently conducting joint exercises that Beijing has said constitute a threat to regional stability.
Chinese warships have been spotted in Philippine waters since those bilateral “Balikatan” exercises kicked off last week, with aircraft carrier Shandong reportedly coming within 2.23 nautical miles (about four kilometers) of northern Babuyan Island.
India, Pakistan exchange small arms fire, China urges restraint
- After the April 22 attack that killed 26 people, India has identified two of the three suspected militants as Pakistani
- The attack triggered outrage and grief in Hindu-majority India, along with calls for action against Islamic Pakistan
SRINAGAR, India: India said on Monday it had responded to ‘unprovoked’ small arms firing from Pakistan along the de facto border for the fourth consecutive night, as it deepens its search for militants in the region following last week’s deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir.
After the April 22 attack that killed 26 people, India has identified two of the three suspected militants as Pakistani, although Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral probe.
Security officials and survivors have said the militants segregated the men at the site, a meadow in the Pahalgam area, asked their names and targeted Hindus before shooting them at close range.
The attack triggered outrage and grief in Hindu-majority India, along with calls for action against Islamic Pakistan, whom New Delhi accuses of funding and encouraging terrorism in Kashmir, a region both nations claim and have fought two wars over.
The nuclear-armed nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with India putting the critical Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines.
China, a key player in the region, said on Monday it hoped India and Pakistan will exercise restraint and welcomed all measures that will help cool down the situation.
The Indian Army said it had responded to “unprovoked” small arms fire from multiple Pakistan Army posts around midnight on Sunday along the 740-km de facto border separating the Indian and Pakistani areas of Kashmir. It gave no further details and reported no casualties.
The Pakistani military did not respond to a request for comment.
In a separate statement, the Pakistan army said it has killed 54 Islamist militants who were trying to enter the country from the Afghanistan border to the west in the last two days.
India’s defense forces have conducted several military exercises across the country since the attack. Some of these are routine preparedness drills, a defense official said.
Security forces have detained around 500 people for questioning after they searched nearly 1,000 houses and forests hunting for militants in Indian Kashmir, a local police official told Reuters on Monday.
At least nine houses have been demolished so far, the official added.
Political leaders in the state have called for caution to ensure the innocent are not harmed in the government’s actions against terrorism after the deadliest incident of its kind in India in nearly two decades.
“This is the first time in 26 years that I have seen people coming out in this way...to say we are not with this attack,” Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told the legislature.
“It (militancy) will finish when people are with us, and today it seems like people are getting there,” he said.
Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, said in a post on X that it “unequivocally” denied involvement in last week’s attack, after an initial message that claimed responsibility.
The group, considered an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba by a Delhi-based think tank, blamed a ‘cyber intrusion’ for the previous social media post that claimed responsibility.
China says ‘no phone call’ recently between Xi and Trump
- The world’s two biggest economies are locked in an escalating tit-for-tat trade battle
BEIJING: Beijing on Monday insisted that “no phone call” took place recently between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, after Donald Trump said he had spoken with the Chinese leader.
The world’s two biggest economies are locked in an escalating tit-for-tat trade battle triggered by Trump’s levies on Chinese goods, which have reached 145 percent on many products.
In an interview conducted on April 22 with TIME Magazine and published Friday, Trump insisted Chinese leader Xi called him despite Beijing denying there had been any contact between the two countries over their bitter trade dispute.
The US president did not say when the call took place or specify what was discussed.
Asked about the comments Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said: “As far as I know, there has been no phone call between the two heads of state recently.”
“China and the United States are not conducting consultations or negotiations on tariff issues,” he added.
