Iranian hackers use fake Facebook accounts

BOSTON: In an unprecedented three-year cyber espionage campaign Iranian hackers created false social networking accounts and a fake news website to spy on military and political leaders in the United StateIsrael and other countries a cyber intelligence firm said on Thursday. ISight Partners which uncovered the operation said the hackerstargets include a four-star US Navy admiral US lawmakers and ambassadors members of the US-Israeli lobby and personnel from Britain Saudi Arabia Syria Iraq and Afghanistan. The firm declined to identify the victims and said it could not say what data had been stolen by the hackers who were seeking credentials to access government and corporate networks as well as infect machines with malicious software. If its been going on for so long clearly they have had success iSight Executive Vice President Tiffany Jones told Reuters. The privately held company is based in Dallas Texas and provides intelligence on cyber threats. ISight dubbed the operation Newscaster because it said the Iranian hackers created six personas who appeared to work for a fake news site NewsOnAir.org which used content from the Associated Press BBC Reuters and other media outlets. The hackers created another eight personas who purported to work for defense contractors and other organizationsiSight said.