International Union of Virtual Media (IUVM), an Iranian political influence & disinformation operation, is linked to Seraj Cyberspace Organization, one of IRGC's media cartels.
Last Thursday the JC published an exclusive on Iran’s shadowy propaganda network. We looked into this.
WHOIS records show that the iuvm[.]net, iuvm[.]org and iuvm[.]info domain were registered on 16 June 2013. A search against saved pages on the Internet Archive Website show that IUVM was initially launched as a "discussion" forum for members.
The names of some of the first forum members should be familiar to those who'd followed previous reporting on Iran's disinformation operation and linked domain name seizures by the US government.
web.archive.org/web/2014020910…
We located posts from October 2014 on Facenama, an Iranian social media platform, by an IUVM verified account advertising free services offer to members, including free Website hosting, free VPN, free mail server, free graphic and design services, and more.
IUVM also put out a message with a contact phone number and address asking people to join IUVM and use their free services.
Also in October 2014, a similar message was placed on IUVM Aparat channel, an Iranian YouTube clone.
The same phone number and address was found on a saved page of the Islamic Revolution Digital Media Festival's Website; irdmfestival[.]ir. This digital media event was initially launched as Seraj Festival.
A list of IUVM Members was published on the iuvm[.]org Website; the page was captured on 25 December 2014.
web.archive.org/web/2014122523…
Reverse WHOIS lookup for Owner Nane / Registrant Email Address, etc shows that many of these domains are connected. And many of these domains have either been seized or are not functional and offered for sale
Connecting the dots - #OSINT domain investigation
IP address history for irdmfestival[.]com / irdmfestival[.]ir reveals that both domains were until early March 2019 on IP 188.253.2.20, the owner was Seraj Cyberspace Organization*. Both are now on IP address 94.182.227.42.
*The IP address owner's name has recently been changed from Seraj Cyberspace Organization to Atieh Ertebat Kish.
The following IUVM's Members' domains names are/were hosted on AS62048.
We also located on these IPs antisemitic, anti-Israel & US propaganda Websites.
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