Iranians’ most basic rights are being violated. Internet access and privacy have become integral to the fundamental human rights of freedom of speech, expression and association, the right to access information, and the right to privacy. Yet with the development of the NIN, which has ...

Under Rouhani, internet filtering has not only continued, it has been strengthened. National search engines now allow systematized filtering and re-direction to state-approved (and often falsified) content. The blocking of major social media platforms, especially during sensitive times such as elections or during unrest, has ...

Guards at the Gate: The Expanding State Control Over the Internet in Iran by the Center for Human Rights ...

Despite the more marginalized role of the president and his ministries, the implementation of internet policies, if not the policy making itself, remains in the hands of the Ministry of Communications, which is under the authority of Rouhani. Hence on several occasions, he has been ...

The Rouhani administration’s record on blocking sites has also not supported his stated support for internet freedom. To be sure, his administration has on several occasions resisted the blocking of social networks. For example, as previously mentioned, in 2014 Rouhani issued an order to ban ...

For as long as the internet has had a presence in Iran, the state has filtered websites and the content on it. However, internet filtering has undergone a transformation during Rouhani’s first term (2003-2017). With the launch of the NIN’s National Search Engine, the Iranian government’s ...

Cyberattacks take place routinely in Iran and are on the rise. Most of the state-sponsored hacking reports CHRI has been receiving have increasingly involved the interception of text messages. Critically, the hackers are using governmental technology infrastructure, namely, the IRGC-owned and controlled Telecommunications Company. As such, ...

Another method used to intercept the communications of Iranian users is through the distribution of pirated versions or localized versions of popular applications that are widely used in Iran. For example, the messaging application Telegram, which remains unblocked in Iran and has 40 million registered users ...

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Malware is a computer program that runs spyware with the aim of collecting information or eavesdropping on the victim after the spyware is installed on a computer or mobile phone. Malware usually allows the attacker to commandeer the victim’s computer without his or her knowledge. ...

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Distributed denial of service attacks (or DDoS) aim to make a website unavailable, and are typically used when the attacker is trying to prevent dissemination ...

CHRI’s research indicates that during Rouhani’s first term (2013-2017), cyberattacks on the social networks accounts of civil and political activists, journalists, academics and influential cultural figures have dramatically increased. CHRI works directly with individuals under cyberattack to protect their accounts, and as a result, has perspective ...