Sweden’s safety service Sapo has accused Iranian intelligence of hacking right into a textual content messaging service to ship 15,000 messages to Swedes.
Sapo stated the info breach in summer time final yr concerned SMS messages calling for “revenge towards Quran-burners”, after a number of anti-Islam activists set fireplace to copies of the Islamic holy ebook.
A preliminary investigation led by prosecutors discovered {that a} cyber group referred to as Anzu performing for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), sought to create division in society and paint Sweden as an Islamophobic nation.
Though Sweden’s authorities condemned the Quran-burnings and police tried to ban them, they have been allowed by the courts beneath freedom of expression legal guidelines.
The incidents led to outrage in a number of Muslim-majority international locations, and Sweden’s embassy in Iraq was set alight by protesters.
Final month, Swedish prosecutors charged an Iraqi activist and an confederate with incitement towards an ethnic group in reference to the book-burnings. Each males deny wrongdoing.
The Anzu group are stated to have hacked right into a Swedish firm’s SMS-service and brought over passwords, usernames and different instruments on the finish of July 2023, earlier than sending a message to non-public people on 1 August that “those that insulted the Quran have to be punished for his or her work”.
Fredrik Hallstrom of Sapo instructed the Dagens Nyheter web site that a lot of folks concerned within the operation have been linked to the Revolutionary Guards and that the textual content messages had partially succeeded in including additional gasoline to the risk towards Sweden.
Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist stated that investigators had succeeded in figuring out the Iranian hackers’ identities, however that there was no approach they could possibly be extradited and their preliminary inquiry had been shelved.
The safety service warned that international powers akin to Iran have been seizing on alternatives to create division and bolster their very own regimes.
Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer stated in a press release that it was very severe {that a} state actor akin to Iran was aiming to “destabilise Sweden or enhance polarisation in our nation”.
This isn’t the primary time that Sweden’s safety service has accused Iran’s authorities of finishing up hostile acts on its territory.
Final Could Sapo stated Tehran had used legal networks in Sweden to hold out violent acts towards different states, teams or people in Sweden that Iran thought-about a risk.
It recognized Iran, alongside Russia and China, as posing the best safety threats to Sweden.