Cyberattacks target Iran databases: Minister

Iran’s minister of communications and information technology says some of the country’s databases have come under cyberattacks, but notes that almost all targeted routers have been salvaged.

Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi tweeted the remarks on Friday after Internet connections experienced instances of interruption across the country.

The attacks, he said, hit the data centers on Friday night, prompting the MAHER Information Security Center to rush to the rescue of stricken routers.

The cyberspace watchdog controlled the attacks and began restoring networks, Jahromi said.

“Attempts at portraying [the country’s Internet security structure] as vulnerable give us an opportunity to rectify existing shortcomings,” he noted.

He posted a picture showing a pattern representing the United States flag, which had shown up on one screen following an attack targeting one router’s settings.

“The scope of the attacks is wider than Iran. The source is to be identified,” Jahromi noted, and said normal function had been restored to 95 percent of the targeted routers.

Last year, a ransomeware, known as “WannaCry,” struck computers in dozens of countries, including Iran, prompting Cyber Police to urge that affected systems be cut off networks.

The Washington Post reported in June 2012 that the US National Security Agency (NSA), its spy service CIA, and Israel’s military had worked together to use a malware, known as Stuxnet, against Iran’s nuclear facilities a year earlier.

Also last year, Swiss prosecutors said that they had found malware on a number of computers at a hotel in Geneva that hosted talks between Iran and six other countries on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in 2015.