European intelligence services managed to thwart a cyber-attack carried out by a group believed to be linked to the Iranian “Revolutionary Guards” which aimed to gather sensitive information about approximately 1600 prominent targets worldwide including Saudi princes and officials.

Researchers belonging to companies specializing in information security stated that a hacker group dubbed “Rocket Kittens” by security experts since the beginning of their investigation last year targeted prominent officials in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Turkey and other countries. “Check Point Technologies”, a company that deals with information security, disclosed that the group specifically targeted princes and prominent personalities in the Saudi economic and government circles, journalists, news agencies, nuclear scientists, educational institutions and human rights activists.

The American-Israeli company “Check Point Technologies” explained in a report seen by “Asharq Al-Awsat” how company experts investigated the hacker group’s database, allowing them to obtain a map of malicious software tools and remote-controlled computers used by the group. The report also stated that the embassies and military attaché in Afghanistan, Turkey, Qatar, the UAE, Iraq, Kuwait and Yemen fell victim to cyber espionage operations which this group launched over the past year. NATO bases in the Middle East region were also targeted.

The report, consisting of 38 pages, indicated that the researchers were able to disclose the identity of one of the most prominent members of this group from their headquarters in California.

However, the European Police Office (Europol) and the FBI said that they cannot comment on the matter at the moment.