{
	"id": "aac84766-0933-4755-ba16-b4a18a564e84",
	"created_at": "2026-04-06T00:14:01.666388Z",
	"updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:37:36.854454Z",
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	"sha1_hash": "771c475ac54d38c5288251329d31eebd539d3e74",
	"title": "Iranian hackers are selling access to compromised companies on an underground forum",
	"llm_title": "",
	"authors": "",
	"file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
	"file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
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	"plain_text": "Iranian hackers are selling access to compromised companies on an\r\nunderground forum\r\nBy Written by Catalin Cimpanu, ContributorContributor Aug. 31, 2020 at 7:02 p.m. PT\r\nArchived: 2026-04-05 16:07:33 UTC\r\nSpecial feature\r\nOne of Iran's state-sponsored hacking groups has been spotted selling access to compromised corporate networks\r\non an underground hacking forum, cyber-security firm Crowdstrike said in a report today.\r\nAlso: The best VPNs in 2020\r\nThe company identified the group using the codename Pioneer Kitten, which is an alternative designation for the\r\ngroup, also known as Fox Kitten or Parisite.\r\nThe group, which Crowdstrike believes is a contractor for the Iranian regime, has spent 2019 and 2020 hacking\r\ninto corporate networks via vulnerabilities in VPNs and networking equipment, such as:\r\nPulse Secure \"Connect\" enterprise VPNs (CVE-2019-11510)\r\nFortinet VPN servers running FortiOS (CVE-2018-13379)\r\nPalo Alto Networks \"Global Protect\" VPN servers (CVE-2019-1579)\r\nCitrix \"ADC\" servers and Citrix network gateways (CVE-2019-19781)\r\nF5 Networks BIG-IP load balancers (CVE-2020-5902)\r\nThe group has been breaching network devices using the above vulnerabilities, planting backdoors, and then\r\nproviding access to other Iranian hacking groups, such as APT33 (Shamoon), Oilrig (APT34), or Chafer,\r\nhttps://www.zdnet.com/article/iranian-hackers-are-selling-access-to-compromised-companies-on-an-underground-forum\r\nPage 1 of 2\n\naccording to reports from cyber-security firms ClearSky and Dragos.\r\nThese other groups would then come in, expand the \"initial access\" Pioneer Kitten managed to obtain by moving\r\nlaterally across a network using more advanced malware and exploits, and then searching and stealing sensitive\r\ninformation likely of interest to the Iranian government.\r\nHowever, in a report today, Crowdstrike says that Pioneer Kitten has also been spotted selling access to some of\r\nthese compromised networks on hacking forums, since at least July 2020.\r\nCrowdstrike believes the group is merely trying to diversify its revenue stream and monetize networks that have\r\nno intelligence value for Iranian intelligence services.\r\nClassic targets of Iranian state-sponsored hacking groups usually include companies and governments in the US,\r\nIsrael, and other Arabic countries in the Middle East. Targeted sectors have usually included defense, healthcare,\r\ntechnology, and government. Anything else is most likely out of scope for Iranian government hackers, and very\r\nlikely to be made available on hacking forums to other gangs.\r\nToday, the biggest customers of \"initial access brokers\" (like Pioneer Kitten) are usually ransomware gangs.\r\nSecurity\r\nEditorial standards\r\nSource: https://www.zdnet.com/article/iranian-hackers-are-selling-access-to-compromised-companies-on-an-underground-forum\r\nhttps://www.zdnet.com/article/iranian-hackers-are-selling-access-to-compromised-companies-on-an-underground-forum\r\nPage 2 of 2",
	"extraction_quality": 1,
	"language": "EN",
	"sources": [
		"MISPGALAXY",
		"Malpedia"
	],
	"references": [
		"https://www.zdnet.com/article/iranian-hackers-are-selling-access-to-compromised-companies-on-an-underground-forum"
	],
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		"iranian-hackers-are-selling-access-to-compromised-companies-on-an-underground-forum"
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