Iran shuts down oil terminal in wake of cyber attack

Reports have shown that Iran has been forced to shut down one of its oil terminals in the wake of a malware-based cyber attack directed at the internal computer systems within its national oil ministry.

According to reports by the Mehr news agency, oil production had not been affected. It was also announced that IT systems operating at the Kharg island terminal, and others, had been disconnected from the internet as a precaution.

One of the main results of the attack was to shut down the websites of the Iranian oil ministry and the national oil company. A spokesman from the Iranian oil ministry said, that user data had been stolen, but core data regarding the Iranian oil industry had remained safe because the systems containing it were isolated from the internet.

Iran is believed to have mobilised its “cyber crisis committee” in response to the attack. The committee was first formed after the 2011 Stuxnet attack, which targeted aspects of Iran’s highly controversial nuclear programme.

Edited from various sources by David Bizley

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/23042012/iran_shuts_down_terminal_in_wake_of_cyber_attack/