The FBI has warned U.S. companies about an Iranian hacking group working inside of Tehran. The group is reportedly state-sponsored, although the leaked email from Reuters gave no indication of the Iranian government involvement.

The unidentified hacking group attacked companies in the U.S., France, Germany, China, England, Saudi Arabia, India, and Israel. The attacks were mainly on aerospace teams, oil companies, defense contractors, education institutions, and energy firms.

Like Us on Facebook

Cyber security firm Cylance were the first to spot the attacks, under the name Operation Cleaver. The attacks have been ongoing since 2011 and the power of the Iranian hacking group is growing, showing more investment in the group.

The Iranian government has denied involvement in the hacking group, claiming it is the same group who attacked the U.S. Navy computer network in 2013, not affiliated with Iran. Both attacks came from Tehran, and in similar fashion to the Chinese attacks, the attacks come from a secure building inside the city.

It is unclear if any damage has been done to servers by the Iranian hacking group, for now Operation Cleaver appears to be an information gathering objective, rather than a destructive move by the hacking collective.

The FBI does not believe this is the same group responsible for the Sony Pictures hack. Differences in encoding and method push the two groups apart, one coding in Korean and the other in Persian.

The Sony Pictures hack is also volatile, as the group posted information online to smear the company. Hackers shut down the computer network for over a week and sent threats to various executives, something the Iranian group has never tried.

Several security experts claim the Iranian hacking group is state-funded by the Iranian government, due to its subversive attacks, lack of any real identity outside an IP and interest in companies capable of providing information for Iran's future.

TagsIran, Operation Cleaver, Tehran, hacking group