Iran has been a victim of a major cyber attack once more. This time around, it was aimed at its main oil export terminal at the Kharg Island and the Oil Ministry. The National Iranian Oil Company and the Iranian Oil Ministry were victims of a worm which invaded their internal computer systems.
Both websites went down for some hours although the Ministry’s website is now accessible. Data related to some of the users of the sites has been stolen during the attack and deleting data from the Oil ministry’s servers was also attempted. According to the spokesperson of the ministry, the core data is safe and uncompromised as it is stored on systems away from the net.
To avoid further damage, the Kharg Island Terminal and other oil plants around the country have been disconnected for now from the net.
A committee has been set up to look into the attack and increase defenses against such cyber attacks. Iran has been a victim of the cyber warfare with viruses like “duqu” aimed at jeopardising industrial processes and “stuxnet” which targeted its nuclear program.
The attack however didn’t affect oil production and the Kharg Island terminal which handles about 90% of Iran’s oil exports is still functional. Accusations are yet to be made and no one has claim responsibility.
Iran is a huge oil exporter, second only to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and a member of OPEC. More than half of the government’s expenditures and 80%of the foreign currency revenues are assured by the sale of its crudes oil.
Iran: Another cyber attack
