LONDON: Iran is running two surveillance operations in cyberspace, using various methods to spy on more than 1,000 dissidents, according to a leading cybersecurity company.
People in Iran, the UK, the US and 10 other countries have been tracked by Iranian hackers, Check Point said.
It added that two groups are involved in disseminating spyware among dissidents that is then used to monitor them and to steal call recordings and other media.
One of the groups, Domestic Kitten, uses various methods to trick people into downloading malicious software to their phones.
For example, they mimic apps for Tehran-based restaurants, offer fake mobile-security apps or provide local news via a compromised app. In one case, they supplied an infected wallpaper app that also contained pro-Daesh imagery.