Google users in Iran were hacked through “phishing emails” possibly coming from the Iranian government. Phishing emails are like spam emails in which they appear to be legit, appearing identical to the website official homepage; however, once the victim logs into their account the hacker has complete access to the account as well. Though this technique is usually used when criminals hack bank accounts, in this case the crime is politically motivated. Thousands of these emails were sent to Google users in Iran, but once Google noticed what was going on they immediately notified the people who had been hacked and advised them to take extra measures of authenticating/protecting their accounts. Though the source of these phishing emails is technically unknown, the circumstances lead people to believe that it was tied to the Iranian presidential elections. It seems as though the hackers thought illegally obtaining peoples information would offer insight regarding Iranian political activism.
In this crime, I believe that the hackers’ disinhibition was caused by “minimization of status.” The inherent anonymity on the internet is liberating for people because they can do and/or say things online that they never would have the courage to do in person. The hackers sending out the phish emails could easily access and use the very private information discovered because they had nothing holding them back. It is much easier to disregard authority on the internet because there aren’t any intimidating social cues on cyber space to deter them. The hackers may have believed they were doing something important by hacking information for the Iranian government, but in reality they are just criminals.
No comments:
Post a Comment