Every week we’ll be bringing you the highlights of Iran’s tech scene in the past week. This week, we covered Telegram’s potential ban in Iran, cyber-attack on Iran’s data centers, completing the list of mobile phone brands in the registry scheme and Iran’s 13th RoboCup competition.
Will Telegram Face a Permanent Ban in Iran?
For the past couple of weeks during the the Persian new year holidays, there were some talks by the authorities about whether it’s appropriate to let Telegram continue its activities in Iran or not. These talks especially got serious when one of the local messengers claimed that it has managed to bring more than 4 million of Iranians to use its app and started advertising widely in the country.
According to Mehr News, the ICT Minister expressed some of Telegram’s economic threats to the country during a joint meeting with the Economic Commission and the National Security Commission of Iran’s Parliament. Mr. Jahromi said that with Telegram’s entrance to the world of cryptocurrencies, the source of trust in the authority will change in Iran.
Also the Minister once again criticized the fact that, rather than exploiting the economic opportunities, Telegram is turning into a media. This matter was also criticized by the Deputy of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace. However he mentioned that they have not yet made a decision on banning Telegram.
Related: What Would Happen to Telegram’s Cryptocurrency in Iran?
Cyber-Attacks on Iran’s Data Centers
This week, on Friday a number of cyber-attacks on Iran’s data centers were reported and then confirmed by the ICT Minister shortly. Apparently these attacks were made through a bug in Cisco’s “Smart Install Client”.
According to ITMEN, the hackers responsible for the attacks told the Motherboard Magazine that their target was Iran and Russia, giving the message “don’t mess with our elections”. The head of Iran’s Cyber Police also announced that these attacks only disrupted the connections or made them slow, and no unauthorized access or data leak was made. For the full report of the cyber-attacks, you can read the article below.
Iranian Data Centers Suffer Cyber Attacks Due to Cisco Bug
All Brands Are Under the Mobile Phone Registry Scheme
According to Tasnim, Samsung and all the other brands will be included in the list of mobile phone registry scheme from April 21. Previously, before the Persian New Year started, most brands were already under this scheme and only a few were remained to be added. The biggest one was Samsung (except for its flagships S9 and S9 Plus), which from the start of the following month (April 21) will join the scheme to make the list complete.
Related: Value of Imported Mobile Phones into Iran Reaches 342 Million USD
The 13th Competitions of Iran’s Open RoboCup
This week during 3-7 of April the 13th competition of Iran’s Open RoboCup was taken place in Tehran. This competition was held in 26 leagues. Multiple teams from Iran’s universities, schools, simulation and industry sections competed with each other. Also teams from other countries such as Germany, United States and china took part in the competition. The winner of the competition not only wins a ticket to participate in the world RoboCup competition in Montreal, but also receives a membership from Iran’s National Elites Foundation and the support of Islamic Azad University.
Related: 624 Teams Participating in the 11th RoboCup Iran Open Competition
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