GoKawiilThe Council of the European Union has sanctioned three Chinese and Iranian companies and two individuals for cyberattacks targeting devices and critical infrastructure.
One of the two sanctioned Chinese companies, identified as Integrity Technology Group, provided "technical and material support" between 2022 and 2023 that led to hacking more than 65,000 devices in six EU states.
The other Chinese company is Anxun Information Technology, which provided hacking services targeting "critical infrastructure and critical functions of member states and third countries."
The two individuals added to the Council's sanctions list are the co-founders of Anxun Information Technology, believed to have played a significant role in cyberattacks against EU member states.
The sanctioned Iranian company is Emennet Pasargad, which has been attributed multiple influence campaigns and the compromise of an SMS service in Sweden.
Emennet Pasargad has been involved in hijacking advertising billboards to spread misinformation during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
According to Microsoft, using the moniker Holy Souls on a hacker forum, the actor also offered in early January 2023 to sell personal information of 230,000 subscribers of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Holy Souls asked for 20 bitcoins, worth around $340,000 at the time, and published a sample of the stolen details, which included Charlie Hebdo subscriber names and addresses.
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Emennet Pasargad is believed to have provided cybersecurity services for the Iranian government and has a long history of influence campaigns. In November 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice offered a $10 million reward for two Iranian nationals who worked as contractors for the company.
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