Iran under cyber warfare
Computer virus attacks the country for the second time. Last year, the Bushehr nuclear power plant was also targeted.
247, with information from Reuters – Iran has been attacked for the second time by a computer virus in a “cyber war” waged by its enemies, the country's civil defense commander said on Monday. Gholamreza Jalali told the Mehr news agency that the new virus, called Stars, was being investigated by experts. He did not specify what Stars was targeting or the impact it intended to have.
“The virus’s particular characteristics have been discovered,” Jalali said. “The virus is congruent and harmonious with the (computer) system and, in the initial phase, causes minor damage and can be mistaken for some executable file from government organizations.”
The Stuxnet virus, which attacked computers at the Bushehr nuclear reactor in 2010, still poses a real risk, according to Jalali. Some experts have described it as the "first guided cyber missile" that targeted the Iranian nuclear program.
Iranian authorities claimed to have neutralized Stuxnet before it could cause its planned damage to the nuclear facility. These authorities blamed Israel and the United States – which believe Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons – for the virus. Iran maintains that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.