Iranian hackers are deploying an updated backdoor apparently targeting Israeli academic researchers with an interest in Iraq.

Researchers at Check Point Security said a group they have dubbed “Educated Manticore” is sending the Iraq-themed bait in order to coax users into initiating a new and improved infection chain that ends with deployment of an implant known as PowerLess.

Other researchers have tied PowerLess to an Iranian actor known as Phosphorus, also tracked as Charming Kitten and APT35. The group has a history of targeting academics who specialize in the fundamentalist Shiite theocracy.