Iran Claims Repels Massive State-Sponsored Cyber Attack Against Infrastructures

Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi announced that a huge cyber attack organized by a foreign state has been thwarted by the country’s powerful security shield.

“Recently, we faced a highly-organized and state-sponsored attack against the infrastructures of the electronic government and it was identified and repelled by the country’s security shield,” Azari Jahromi told reporters in a press conference in Tehran on Wednesday.

He did not provide any details about the attack, saying, “I cannot say for now which country has conducted the attack.”

Azari Jahromi, meantime, said that dimensions of the attack are clear now, adding that a report will be released later.

In relevant remarks in October, Azari Jahromi said that his country’s home-grown cybersecurity wall helped Tehran to foil 33 million cyberattacks in the past year.

Addressing the Munich Security Conference (MSC) Cyber Security Summit in Qatar, Azari Jahromi said his country’s cybersecurity project codenamed Digital Fortress (Dejfa) could deter 33 million cyberattacks in the past year.

The Iranian minister added, “US’ unilateralism and use of sanctions is a threat to international cybersecurity and the solution to global cybersecurity problems lies in using multilateral mechanisms.”

Also in the same month, Head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali, whose organization is in charge of cyber security, said that his country is seriously following up the case of the United States’ repeated cyber-attacks against its energy sites, adding that Tehran has now developed a tight security system for countering such hostile moves.

“The Americans have repeatedly threatened and mounted cyber-attacks against us,” Jalali said on October 06.

“The legal implications of such actions could naturally affect them and Iran is seriously following up the issue at its juridical and foreign ministry capacities,” he said, adding that Iran is putting in place robust security measures to protect its vital infrastructure. 

Last month, US media reports said the United States was considering possible cyber-attacks against Iran after the September 14 attacks on Saudi oil sites which Washington was quick to blame on Iran without evidence. 

Jalali said, “Our task is to enhance our cyber defense preparations in the energy and other critical areas.”