Cybercrime rises in Iran

While US officials are necessarily concerned about the cyber threat the Islamic Republic of Iran poses to it and to critical infrastructure in the United States, as the internet has expanded into and perhaps even permeated Iran, Iranian officials have grown steadily more aware of the cyber threat inside Iran. While the “Passive Defense Organization” of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) might both engage in cyber warfare and seek to protect Iran’s military and security infrastructure from hacking and sabotage, the Iranian Cyber Police seek to counter other crimes conducted via the internet. It is in this context that Cyber Police Chief Kamal Hadianfar’s report on cybercrime in the first eight months of the Iranian year (that is, 21 March-21 November 2015) is so interesting. While moral crimes—code for pornography—were a significant portion of the caseload and reflect the ability of Iranian authorities to monitor online activity, by far the vast majority of crimes involved finance. This suggests problems for outside investors and Iranians, as the lifting of sanctions injects money into the Iranian banking system, much of which remains less sophisticated and secure than its European and Gulf Arab counterparts. Even if the banking sector is not involved, the report suggests that a generation of young Iranian conmen are taking advantage of those less sophisticated in the ways of phishing or internet fraud.

Also interesting is Hadianfar’s listing of those regions experiencing the greatest occurrences of cybercrime. Tehran—as Iran’s largest city and financial hub—makes sense as the region of greatest occurrence. The same holds true for Razavi Khorasan, whose capital Mashhad is Iran’s second largest city, Fars and Isfahan, whose capital cities Shiraz and Isfahan are also major cities. The Iranian provice of Western Azerbaijan, however, is not heavily populated, but is home to a large percentage of Iran’s Kurdish minority. Its inclusion suggests that Iran’s Cyber Police might be heavily involved in surveillance of Iran’s restive minorities. Conversely, the idea that Kish Island is not a major cyber concern is counterintuitive, given that it remains a major trading hub for both Iranians and, as a visa- free zone, non-Iranians. Indeed, foreigners and Iranians may mix in Kish more than in any other Iranian city beyond Tehran. That most of its hotels and malls are run by the IRGC’s economic wing perhaps suggests a hands-off policy on the part of the Cyber Police more than Kish being an area unaffected by cybercrime.