Iran Claims US, Israel Behind Cyberattack On Fuel Distribution System

The Head of Civil Defense Organization of Iran Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali said the United States and Israel were definitely behind the cyberattack that disrupted the fuel distribution system at Iran’s gas stations on October 26, according to the IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency.

According to the Tasnim News article, Jalali said the attack targeted “the middleware” in the fuel delivery systems, and described the type of attack as very complicated and difficult to fend off.

“If the attack had taken place in the hardware layer, there would have been a need for infiltration,” meaning either the company that has manufactured the software would have been responsible or a disrupting piece of equipment would have to be installed to make the attack possible, Jalali was quoted as saying.

Local news agencies reported at the time that long queues that had been formed in front of gas stations in large Iranian cities had cleared up after Oil Ministry authorities dispatched teams to the forecourts to enable offline fuel delivery, Press TV reported.

Jalali claimed that three hours following the attack, 30 percent of the gas stationed resumed their offline services, while 12 hours after the attack, 60 percent returned to the normal status, reported Tasnim, with Jalali adding that, “Serious infrastructural cyber warfare has started. We should take it seriously and rectify our areas of weakness.”