In 2013, LVS chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson suggested during a panel discussion at Yeshiva University that the US should detonate and nuclear bomb in the Iranian desert, a remark that may have cost his company $40 million. (Image: Kin Cheung\/AP) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nRecorded\nFuture discovered that an internet forum called \u201cAshiyane,\u201d which had direct\nties to Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard Corps via its founder, Behrooz Kamalian, had\nbecome a platform for some of the most sophisticated cyberattacks against world\ngovernments and major companies over the past two decades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These\nincluded computer systems belonging to Israeli and US government organizations,\nsuch as Mossad and NASA, as well as Saudi targets, such as the hugely destructive\n2012 attack on the state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco — then the world\u2019s\nmost valuable company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ashiyane\nwas likely to have targeted LVS because of the opposition of its chairman and CEO\nSheldon Adelson to the Obama administration\u2019s negotiations with Iran over its\nnuclear program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
LVS Attack<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn\n2013, as a panel guest at the Yeshiva University campus in New York discussing\nthe topic of \u201cIran, Assimilation and the Threat to Israel and Jewish Survival,\u201d Adelson\nsuggested detonating a nuclear bomb in the Iranian desert, \u201charmlessly,\u201d to\nshow the country who was boss while warning that Tehran would be next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou want to be wiped out? Go ahead and take a tough position and continue with your nuclear development,\u201d said Adelson.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
His comments were not well received in Iran. \u201cIf Americans are telling the truth that they are serious about negotiation,\u00a0<\/em>they should slap these prating people in the mouth and crush their mouths,\u201d <\/em>the Ayatollah Khamenei responded. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nFebruary 10, 2015, attackers based in Iran attacked LVS\u2019s networks, shutting down servers, wiping hard drives, stealing data, and ultimately causing around $40 million worth of damage. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nhackers left personal messages for Adelson, such as: \u201cEncouraging the use of\nWeapons of Mass Destruction, UNDER ANY CONDITION, is a Crime, signed, the Anti\nWMD Team,\u201d and \u201cDamn A, Don\u2019t let your tongue cut your throat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Online Gambling on\nthe Side<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nOn\nMarch 12, 2018, Ashiyane announced it had been ordered by an Iranian court to\nshut down its operations, offering no further information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But\nsources in Iran told Recorded Future that Ashiyane was running online gambling\nsites on the side and may have been rumbled by the government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nplatform had been linked to online gambling before. In 2013, a forum database was\nleaked online — presumably by rival hackers — and an email address connected to\nthe forum\u2019s database support was revealed to belong to the owner of several Iranian-facing\nonline poker sites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The punishments available to online gambling operators in Iran include life imprisonment and death — which is at least something the Ayatollah Khamenei and Sheldon Adelson can finally agree on. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Iranian hacking collective that was likely to have been behind 2015’s massive cyberattack on Las Vegas Sands Corp. was shut down last year by the government in Tehran, possibly because some of its members were operating online gambling sites, a report by cybersecurity intelligence firm Recorded Future suggests. Recorded Future discovered that an internet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":96404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16693],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Iranian Hacking Collective Suspected of LVS Attack Shut Down<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n