{"id":96403,"date":"2019-01-17T14:16:24","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T22:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=96403"},"modified":"2019-01-17T14:16:26","modified_gmt":"2019-01-17T22:16:26","slug":"iranian-hacking-collective-suspected-of-lvs-attack-may-have-been-shut-down-for-running-gambling-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iranian-hacking-collective-suspected-of-lvs-attack-may-have-been-shut-down-for-running-gambling-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian Hacking Collective Suspected of LVS Attack May Have Been Shut Down for Running Gambling Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An Iranian hacking collective that was likely to have been behind 2015’s massive cyberattack<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"LVS\"
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\n

Recorded\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\n

In\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\n

February 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\n

On\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":"\nIranian Hacking Collective Suspected of LVS Attack Shut Down<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Government-linked Iranian hacking platform Ashiyane, whose members likely attacked LVS in 2015, could have been shut down by Tehran for operating online gambling sites, says report.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Iranian Hacking Collective Suspected of LVS Attack Shut Down\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Government-linked Iranian hacking platform Ashiyane, whose members likely attacked LVS in 2015, could have been shut down by Tehran for operating online gambling sites, says report.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iranian-hacking-collective-suspected-of-lvs-attack-may-have-been-shut-down-for-running-gambling-sites\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-17T22:16:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-01-17T22:16:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shel.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1688\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iranian-hacking-collective-suspected-of-lvs-attack-may-have-been-shut-down-for-running-gambling-sites\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iranian-hacking-collective-suspected-of-lvs-attack-may-have-been-shut-down-for-running-gambling-sites\/\",\"name\":\"Iranian Hacking Collective Suspected of LVS Attack Shut Down\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iranian-hacking-collective-suspected-of-lvs-attack-may-have-been-shut-down-for-running-gambling-sites\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iranian-hacking-collective-suspected-of-lvs-attack-may-have-been-shut-down-for-running-gambling-sites\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shel.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-17T22:16:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-17T22:16:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Government-linked Iranian hacking platform Ashiyane, whose members likely attacked LVS in 2015, could have been shut down by Tehran for operating online gambling sites, says report.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iranian-hacking-collective-suspected-of-lvs-attack-may-have-been-shut-down-for-running-gambling-sites\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iranian-hacking-collective-suspected-of-lvs-attack-may-have-been-shut-down-for-running-gambling-sites\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/iranian-hacking-collective-suspected-of-lvs-attack-may-have-been-shut-down-for-running-gambling-sites\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shel.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shel.jpg\",\"width\":3000,\"height\":1688,\"caption\":\"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. 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He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. 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