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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Blazes at Iran petrochemical plants raise suspicions of cyberattack | |
| 2016-09-23 | |
| [IsraelTimes] Tehran insists recent fires at several oil complexes unrelated to hacking, but officials last month acknowledged malware infection A series of fires at Iranian petrochemical plants and facilities have raised suspicions about hacking potentially playing a role, with authorities saying that "viruses had contaminated" equipment at several of the affected complexes.
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... the government acknowledgment of supposedly protected facilities being infected points to the possibility of a concerted effort to target Iranian infrastructure in the years after the Stuxnet virus disrupted thousands of centrifuges at a uranium enrichment facility. Among the worst of the fires was a massive, days-long inferno in July at the Bou Ali Sina Petrochemical Complex in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan. Insurance officials later estimated the damage at some $67 million. Authorities preliminarily blamed the blaze on a leak of paraxylene, a flammable hydrocarbon, without elaborating. Other recent blazes include: -- A July 29 fire at a storage tank at the Bistoon Petrochemical Complex in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah that authorities blamed on an electrical fault; -- An Aug. 6 gas pipeline kaboom in the port city of Genaveh that killed one person and injured three; -- An Aug. 7 fire at a storage area of the Bandar Imam Khomeini Petrochemical Complex that burned for two days; -- An Aug. 30 inferno that erupted in a sewage unit at Iran’s South Pars gas field; and -- A Sept. 14 gas leak and fire at the Mobin Petrochemical Factory that services the South Pars gas field that injured four workers. Initially, Brig. Gen. Gholam Reza Jalali, who heads an Iranian military unit in charge of combatting cybersabotage, dismissed any notion that the fires could have been caused by hacking. Iran’s aging oil pipelines and plants, hit hard by years of Western sanctions, have seen a rapid push to increase production this year to take advantage of the nuclear deal with world powers. Iran also faces occasional separatist attacks on its pipelines. But on Aug. 27, Jalali acknowledged Iran’s petrochemical industry had been the target of cyberattacks. He put the blame on imported and installed components at the facilities. "The viruses had contaminated petrochemical complexes," he said, according to a report by the state-run IRNA news agency. "Irregular commands by a virus may cause danger." | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #7 I'm sure the NSA and FBI will provide resources to help rid the Mullah Malware |
| Posted by: Frank G 2016-09-23 16:37 |
| #6 authorities saying that "viruses had contaminated" equipment Sneezing on keyboards? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2016-09-23 11:56 |
| #5 I'm surprised it hasn't affected other parts of their infrastructure. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2016-09-23 11:00 |
| #4 Jewish Lightning ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-09-23 03:42 |
| #3 Dear Iranians, just remember: "Whatever happens, we have got deleted by censor, and you do not." |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-09-23 03:39 |
| #2 some of these locals are in areas where the population is arab rather than persian or there are pockets of Sunnis |
| Posted by: lord garth 2016-09-23 02:00 |
| #1 I'm sure the US wasn't involved--Obama would never have allowed it. |
| Posted by: Crusader 2016-09-23 00:37 |