Senior Official Rejects Reports of U.S. Cyber Attacks
TEHRAN(Basirat): Head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali on Monday rejected as baseless claims that the U.S. had recently mounted several cyber attacks against the Islamic Republic.
"The Americans have twice said that they have responded to the Iranian attack on the U.S. drone with cyber attacks,” he told reporters here. "However, we have seen no sign of cyber attacks,” the top security official added.
In a report published by Reuters on Wednesday, two U.S. officials said Washington had carried out a secret cyber operation against Iran in the wake of the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, which Washington and Riyadh blame on Tehran.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operation took place in late September and took aim at Tehran’s ability to spread "propaganda”.
On Monday, Reuters cited British and U.S. officials as claiming that Russian hackers had piggy-backed on an Iranian institutions to attack government and industry organizations in dozens of countries while masquerading as attackers from the Islamic Republic.
British security officials claimed the Russian group, known as "Turla” and accused by Estonian and Czech authorities of operating on behalf of Russia’s FSB security service, had used Iranian tools and computer infrastructure to successfully hack in to organizations in at least 20 different countries over the last 18 months.
The hacking campaign, the extent of which has not been previously revealed, was most active in the Middle East but also targeted organizations in Britain, they claimed.
In a report published by Reuters on Wednesday, two U.S. officials said Washington had carried out a secret cyber operation against Iran in the wake of the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, which Washington and Riyadh blame on Tehran.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operation took place in late September and took aim at Tehran’s ability to spread "propaganda”.
On Monday, Reuters cited British and U.S. officials as claiming that Russian hackers had piggy-backed on an Iranian institutions to attack government and industry organizations in dozens of countries while masquerading as attackers from the Islamic Republic.
British security officials claimed the Russian group, known as "Turla” and accused by Estonian and Czech authorities of operating on behalf of Russia’s FSB security service, had used Iranian tools and computer infrastructure to successfully hack in to organizations in at least 20 different countries over the last 18 months.
The hacking campaign, the extent of which has not been previously revealed, was most active in the Middle East but also targeted organizations in Britain, they claimed.
Source: Kayhan
