In this edition of Between Two Nerds Tom Uren and The Grugq talk to Hamid Kashfi, CEO and founder of DarkCell, about the Iranian cyber espionage scene.

Kashfi talks about how the regime once forced people to hack and crushed the domestic security research scene. He describes how and why the government has changed its approach and is now reaping the rewards of improved Iranian capabilities.

Show notes:

• The “Mossad or not” threat model by James Mickens, https://www.usenix.org/system/files/1401_08-12_mickens.pdf
• Shamoon wiper, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamoon
• iLO rootkit, https://therecord.media/threat-actor-uses-hp-ilo-rootkit-to-wipe-servers