A majority of Iran’s fuel stations went out of service on Monday following cyberattacks by a hacking group that Tehran accuses of getting hyperlinks to Israel.
Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji confirmed that the nationwide disruption to petrol stations was brought on by a cyberattack.
Owji had earlier instructed Iranian state TV that providers had been disrupted at about 70% of Iran’s petrol stations and that outdoors interference was a potential trigger. He later mentioned 1,650 petrol stations had been operational. The ministry supervises 3,800 petrol stations.
A hacker group dubbed “Gonjeshke Darande,” or predatory sparrow, claimed it was behind the disruption, Iranian state TV and Israeli native media reported.
“This cyberattack was carried out in a controlled manner to avoid potential damage to emergency services,” the group mentioned in its assertion, based on Iranian media.
Iran’s civil protection company, which is answerable for the nation’s cybersecurity, mentioned it was nonetheless contemplating all potential causes for the disruptions because it investigated.
Iranian state media added that the hacker group had up to now claimed cyberattacks towards Iranian petrol stations, rail networks and metal factories.
A serious cyberattack in Iran in 2021 additionally disrupted the sale of gas, inflicting lengthy queues at stations throughout the nation the place pump costs are closely sponsored. Iran had mentioned Israel and the United States had been the possible culprits behind these assaults.
Monday’s disruption started early and was particularly acute in Tehran, forcing many petrol stations to function manually, Iranian media reported.
“At least 30% of gas stations are working, with the rest gradually resolving the disruption in services,” Owji mentioned earlier Monday. The nation has some 33,000 fuel stations.
Reza Navar, a spokesperson for Iran’s petrol stations affiliation instructed the semi-official Fars news company that there was no gas provide scarcity however known as on drivers to not go to petrol stations.
“A software problem with the fuel system has been confirmed in some stations across the country and experts are currently fixing the issue,” Navar mentioned.
Earlier, the Oil Ministry instructed state TV that the disruption was not linked to plans to extend the value of gas, a coverage that brought on widespread protests in 2019 and led to violent repression.
State TV mentioned petrol stations had been in search of to offer gas manually and that it will take not less than six to seven hours to resolve the issues.
Israel has not but commented on the cyberattack in Iran.
Israel’s Cyber Unit on Monday mentioned Iran and Hezbollah had been behind an tried cyberattack on a hospital in northern Israel about three weeks in the past. It mentioned that the assault was thwarted however that the hackers might retrieve “some of the sensitive information stored in the hospital’s information systems.”
Iran disconnected a lot of its authorities infrastructure from the web after the Stuxnet pc virus – broadly believed to be a joint U.S.-Israeli creation – disrupted hundreds of Iranian centrifuges within the nation’s nuclear websites within the late 2000s.
Long sanctioned by the West, Iran faces difficulties getting up-to-date {hardware} and software program, typically counting on Chinese-manufactured electronics or older methods not being patched by producers. That would make it simpler for a possible hacker to focus on. Pirated variations of Windows and different software program are frequent throughout Iran.
Source: www.dailysabah.com