UK universities targeted by Iranian hackers

Several British universities have been targeted by a hacking group linked to the Iranian government that sought to obtain passwords to library systems.

Secureworks, a cyber security company, said it had found evidence of fake websites that appeared to students to be legitimate pages for library access. However, they instead sought to intercept their passwords.

The breaches were part of a larger campaign to steal unpublished research that targeted 76 institutions in 14 countries, Secureworks said. The most recent fake website was registered on Aug 19. It is believed the attacks are by the Cobalt Dickens group operating out of Iran.