Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Pirates with possible links with Israel have drained more than $ 90 million in Nobitex, the largest Iranian cryptocurrency exchange, according to blockchain analysis companies.
The group which claimed the responsibility of the hack disclosed on Thursday what he said was the complete source code of the company. “The assets left in Nobitex are now completely out,” wrote the group on its telegram account.
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The stolen funds have been transferred to addresses with messages that criticized the Iranian revolutionist goalkeeper, the Blockchain analysis company, Elliptic, wrote in a blog article. He said that the attack was probably not financial motivated because the portfolios that the pirates had paid the money into “indeed burned the funds in order to send Nobitex a political message”.
The pirate group, Gonjeshke Darande – “Sparrow predator” in Farsi – accused Nobitex of having helped the Iranian government to escape Western sanctions on the country’s rapid nuclear program and transfer money to activists, in a position on X affirming the attack.
Nobitex seemed to have confirmed the attack. Its application and website were broken because it assessed “unauthorized access” to its systems, he said in an article on X.
The flight lasted a range of cryptocurrencies, notably Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin and even more, said the chief of national security intelligence in Chainalysis Andrew Fierman. The violation is “particularly significant given the relatively modest size of the Iranian cryptocurrency market,” he added.
Piracy seems to be motivated by the climbing of tensions in the Israeli-Iranian conflict, which broke out last week when Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites and military officials, attracting Tehran’s response to missile dams. He came after the group said he had destroyed the data in a cyber attack against the Bank controlled by the State of Iran on Tuesday.
Elliptic said that the relatives of the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei were linked to the exchange and that the agents of the sanctioned revolutionary guard had used Nobitex. He shared evidence that the exchange had sent and received cryptocurrency portfolios controlled by Iranian allies, notably the Houthis and Hamas of Yemen.
Gonjeshke Darande previously claimed the responsibility of other high-level cyber attacks against Iran, including an operation in 2021 which paralyzed service stations and an effort in 2022 against an Acirial which sparked a big fire.
Israeli media have largely reported that Gonjeshke Darande is linked to Israel, but that the country’s government has never officially recognized links with the group.
The American senators Elizabeth Warren and Angus King last year raised concerns concerning the use by Iran of cryptocurrencies to escape the sanctions.
