- Iran accuses the United States of being responsible for the network shutdown
- The fault was attributed to pre-installed backdoors in American technology
- Iran remains dependent on importing foreign technology
Iranian media have accused American technology companies and the US government of working together to install secret backdoors in network infrastructure.
The claim comes after Iran reported coordinated shutdowns and outages across its network hardware despite the government disconnecting the country from the internet.
If true, the backdoor would have to be activated remotely using another medium, which Iran says could involve a satellite network.
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Widespread network shutdown
Iran’s claims, shared by the Iranian Fars news agency, claim that hardware manufactured by companies including Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet and MikroTik was subjected to unexplained coordinated shutdowns and restarts, implying that the companies installed secret backdoors on behalf of the US government.
This is not the first time such an accusation has been made. China has previously accused the U.S. government of installing backdoors in chips and other technology that could be imported into China. China has also previously accused the US government of plots involving pre-installed malware and of being behind several attacks launched by Volt Typhoon.
Iran’s claims, while unsubstantiated, mirror those of China, with Chinese state media also largely sharing Iranian theories. Iran also suggested that some devices may have been involved in a botnet that led to widespread outages.
It is difficult to verify these claims as Iran has maintained a near-total internet shutdown since the conflict began in late February. Internet access has been highly selective, with some outage trackers suggesting that the Iranian government only provides Internet access to government officials and pro-regime groups.
Via The register
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