Iran’s internet goes offline for hours amid claims of ‘enemy abuse’

Bank and crypto outfits hit after Israeli commander mentioned attacks expanding to ‘other areas’

The government of Iran appears to have shut down the internet within its borders, perhaps in response to Israel-linked cyberattacks.

Internet watchers at CloudFlare and NetBlocks both report that internet traffic in Iran dropped precipitously late on Wednesday and has remained near zero since.

Cloudflare cited a Telegram post from the Tehran-based outlet Khabaronline News Agency, which says Iran’s Ministry of Communications temporarily restricted internet access to “prevent enemy abuse”.

One possible example of such abuse is a disruption at Iran’s Bank Sepah.

A group called Predatory Sparrow, which has previously boasted of attacks on Iranian targets and is thought to have Israel’s backing, has claimed responsibility for the outage at the Bank.

Rob Joyce, who briefly served as acting Homeland Security Advisor in the first Trump administration, shared his view that Predatory ...