TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran has unleashed a cyber army which draws on the ranks of Islamist volunteer militias to counter attacks online and take down “enemy websites,” the official IRNA news agency said Monday.
“Just as we are under attack from our enemies on the web, e-trained Iranian military experts, including Basiji teachers, students and clerics, are attacking enemy sites,” said Ali Fazli, deputy chief of the volunteer Islamist Basij militia, quoted by IRNA.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have joined the Basij militia, which is overseen by the Revolutionary Guard, according to the authorities.
Fazli gave no details on the type of “attacks” launched against foreign websites or on the nature of these sites
Ultra-conservative sites have reported in recent weeks cyber attacks launched from Iran against Voice of America Farsi, Dutch government-funded Radio Zamaneh, which also broadcasts in Farsi, and microblogging site Twitter.
