Iran Says It's Defused 2nd Cyberattack In Less Than A Week

Iran’s telecommunications minister announced on Sunday that the country has defused a second cyberattack in less than a week. The latest attack was aimed at spying on government intelligence. Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said in a short Twitter post that the alleged attack was identified and defused by a cybersecurity shield, and that the spying servers were identified and the hackers were also tracked.

In June, Washington officials said that US military cyber forces launched a strike against Iranian military computer systems as President Donald Trump backed away from plans for a more conventional military strike in response to Iran’s downing of a US surveillance drone in the strategic Persian Gulf.

Reacting to this, taking to Twitter, telecommunications minister Mohammad Javad Azarari Jahromi without referring to any US attack said “The media are asking about the veracity of the alleged cyber-attack against Iran. No successful attack has been carried out by them, although they are making a lot of effort.”

Iran is in the grip of an economic crisis. The US re-imposed sanctions that block Iran from selling its crude oil abroad. 

Iran’s economic woes in part fuelled the anger seen in widespread protests last month that Iranian security forces violently put down. Amnesty International says the unrest killed over 200 people. Iran has not given any nationwide death toll so far.

Iran’s economy has primarily been battered since the country has been locked in a standoff with the United States and its Gulf Arab allies after US President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 deal that gave it relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Iran’s sovereign wealth fund, whose board of trustees includes President Hassan Rouhani, as well as Etemad Tejarate Pars, a company that the Treasury Department said had sent money internationally on behalf of Iran’s defence ministry.