The US-based Persian website Balatarin.com has been under attack since February 3. Balatarin (in Persian: the highest) has been under cyber attacks in the past, too. This time, though, it’s not about a kids’ game. Not only the site’s server has been taken down. Its PayPal system has been attacked. The IDs of its managers have been stolen and fake credit cards were used to disturb its services.
Balatarin.com is a community website and probably the most famous Web 2.0 site in Persian language. Users can post links to the webpages of their interest. Yes, only registered users can post links to Balatarin. But the registration is free. Once a user sees the logo below any article on any website, he/she clicks on it and post his/her favored link to Balatarin. This is a vote. Posts with highest clicks (most popular) get to the front page of Balatarin. So, you can find out which article is the most or least favored among those websites that participate in Balatarin as a communty website. Additionally, users can freely discuss and place their comments about different posts on Balatarin.
In Persian calendar year 1386 (2007-2008), 7 Sang, a Persian Internet Magazine, named Balatarin as editors’ pick. It was voted the second most popular Persian website in the same year. The same magazine elected Balatarin as the “Best (Persian) News Website” in 1385.
Now, who is attacking Balatarin at this concerted level of criminal act? In a statement issued on February 8, Balatarin’s managers said they don’t want to point fingers at anybody before gathering all necessary information and completing their investigation. They are using all, including legal ways in California to completely restore the site and to identify and bring to justice those responsible for this cyber attack.
The thieves have succeeded in applying with the provider to delete Balatarin’s format and discs. But attacking their bank account has not been successful.
The stolen domains have been restored, but the attacks are continuing.
“All efforts of Balatarin have been to create a free flow of information and ideas,” the statement of Balatarin’s managers said. “Balatarin has been a platform where thousands of Iranians with different and contrasting opinions have expressed their preferences and freely discussed issues of their interest without resorting to violence.”
After Balatarin was hacked, many Persian websites and media outlets reported about the cyber attack. Among all those reports, one filed by Iran’s semi-official “Fars News Agency” was both strange and maybe indicative. “During the 22 day-long Gazza war, Balatarin has acted in a way that news about the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gazza could hardly make it to the first page of this website… This action has probably been taken in in the cyber war of hackers against the Zionist regime to support the oppressed people of Gazza.”
Oops…
(See also a report in Persian on Radio Farda)
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