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Iran oil ministry denies cyber attack

Iran Materials 22 June 2013 15:16 (UTC +04:00)
Iran Oil Ministry’s Director for Information and Communication Technology Ahmad Tolayi rejected the reports of a cyber attack on the ministry’s computer network, the IRNA News Agency reported.
Iran oil ministry denies cyber attack

Azerbaijan, Baku, June 22/ Trend R.Zamanov/

Iran Oil Ministry's Director for Information and Communication Technology Ahmad Tolayi rejected the reports of a cyber attack on the ministry's computer network, the IRNA News Agency reported.

The oil ministry's website is down due to some technical problems with optical fibers, Tolayi explained.

He further said that the security of oil ministry's computer network is considerably high and any hacking attempt would fail.

Earlier today the Mehr News Agency reported that on Friday noon hackers launched an attack on the websites of Iran's oil ministry, the National Iranian Oil Company and some other companies affiliated to the oil ministry.

The report said that the hackers failed to penetrate into the Iranian Oil Ministry's computer network.

According to the officials the hackers failed to leave any impact on the data system and gather any vital information, the Mehr News Agency reported.

The ministry's network as well as NIOC and some other affiliated websites are reportedly down due to the cyber attack.

Various Iranian industrial, nuclear and government bodies have recently come under growing cyber attacks, widely believed to be designed and staged by the US and Israel.

A similar attack was carried out against Iran's oil ministry in the second month of the previous calendar year (April 21, 21012 - May 22, 2012).

Wide-scale cyber attacks on Iranian facilities started in 2010 after the US and Israel tried to disrupt the operation of Iran's nuclear facilities through a worm which later came to be known as Stuxnet.
US intelligence officials revealed earlier this month that the Stuxnet malware was not only designed to disrupt Iran's nuclear program, but was part of a wider campaign directed from Israel that included the assassination of the country's nuclear scientists.

Stuxnet is the first discovered worm that spies on and reprograms industrial systems. It is specifically written to attack SCADA systems which are used to control and monitor industrial processes.

In September, the Islamic Republic said that the computer worm of Stuxnet infected 30,000 IP addresses in Iran, but it denied the reports that the cyber worm had damaged computer systems at the country's nuclear power plants.

Iranian top security officials have urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to detect the agents involved in Stuxnet computer worm attack on Iran.

In April Iran announced that it has discovered the Stars virus that is being used as a tool to commit espionage.

That was the second cyber attack waged by enemies of Iran to undermine the country's nuclear as well as economic and industrial activities.

Security software manufacturer Symantec says parts of the Duqu code base are nearly identical to the infamous Stuxnet worm, "but with a completely different purpose."

Iran announced last November that it had developed a software program that can control the Duqu spyware.

After wide-scale cyber attacks on Iranian facilities, including its nuclear sites, last year, Iranian officials started planning a proper and well-concerted line of defense against virus attacks.

The Islamic Republic of Iran previously announced plans to strengthen its cyber power by establishing a Supreme Council of Cyberspace to defend the country against cyber attacks.

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei tasked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with the duty of establishing a Supreme Council of Cyberspace.

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