Iran ‘Knows Identities’ Of Oil Cyber Attackers

The Iranian government has claimed it knows who was behind the recent malware attack on the country’s oil ministry, as well as their “hidden agenda”.

The cyber attack, which occurred on Sunday, took down websites belonging to the Iranian oil ministry and National Iranian Oil Company for several hours. A number of Iranian facilities were also shutdown, including the Kharg Island oil terminal, which processes 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports, but there were no reports of any disruption to oil production.

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Deputy Oil Minister Hamdollah Mohammadnejad told the FARS News Agency that the attack was the work of a virus that was aimed at “stealing and destroying information.” He added that the government understood the “nature of the attack and the identity of the attackers.”

Mohammadnejad said that Iran believed that the targets were intentional, but refused to disclose more information as the incident is subject to an ongoing investigation. “Those who design and develop such viruses are pursuing specific goals,” he said.

Iran summoned its cyber crisis committee to deal with the situation and ministers announced that computer systems had been restored on Wednesday after initially denying that any “essential data” had been stolen.

Iran’s uranium enrichment programme has been the subject of cyber attack before, most notably from the Stuxnet worm that sought to disrupt motors at nuclear power stations. The malware was believed to be one of the most sophisticated viruses ever made, leading some to conclude it could only be the work of a nation state.

Last November, Iran confirmed its computer systems were being targeted by the Duqu worm, but that it had successfully ‘controlled’ the attack.

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