Iran's Oil Ministry forms cyber crisis center

Islamic Republic aims to battle computer virus threatening to cripple oil exports; ministry forms special team of over 50 IT experts

Dudi Cohen|Published: 04.24.12 , 10:14

The Iranian Oil Ministry has formed a crisis center to deal with the recent cyber attack on the country's oil export facilities, Ynet learned Tuesday.

Hamdollah Mohammad Nejad, head of the Oil Ministry's Passive Defense Office, said that the ministry's IT experts were working on the problem.

Related stories:

According to Iranian media, over 50 of Tehran's top technical experts have been ordered to report to the ministry and assist in the "cyber battle."

The cyber attack, which has been ongoing throughout April, peaked on Sunday, when it took down several key computer systems in the Oil Ministry and corrupted the data stored on them in its entirety.

A virus was first detected inside the control systems of Kharg Island, which handles the vast majority of Iran's crude oil exports.

An Oil Ministry official said that it was still unclear whether the origin of the attack was external or internal.

Some Iranian media outlets ventured that the ministry may choose to shut down all non-vital systems for the near future to protect the Islamic Republic's crude exports while the problem was being resolved.

Tehran's ISNA news agency identified the virus as "Viper," but stressed that it "Hasn't impacted oil exports," as it did not impact the main servers in the ministry.

A ministry official told ISNA that "All of the information is secure – everything is backed up."