Sweden’s security service, Sapo, has accused Iranian intelligence of orchestrating a cyber-attack in connection with last year’s Quran-burning protests.
The attack targeted a Swedish text messaging service, with hackers sending 15,000 messages urging revenge against those involved in the Quran-burnings, which had triggered outrage across Muslim-majority countries.
According to Sapo, the group responsible for the cyber-attack is linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and was identified as Anzu, a cyber group that sought to incite division and portray Sweden as an Islamophobic nation. Despite Swedish government condemnation of the Quran-burnings and police efforts to ban such actions, the courts allowed the protests under freedom of expression laws.
The attack followed incidents in which anti-Islam activists set fire to copies of the Quran, leading to diplomatic backlash and the burning of Sweden’s embassy in Iraq. Swedish prosecutors are currently investigating and have charged two men in connection with the Quran-burning protests.
In July 2023, the Anzu group breached a Swedish company’s SMS-service, obtaining usernames and passwords before sending messages on August 1 calling for punishment of those who had insulted the Quran.
