Iran Confirms Cyberattack On Government Agencies

Iran - Website hacked, undated

Iran's Computer Emergency Response Team Co-ordination Centre, MAHER, confirmed that two Iranian government agencies have been subjected to cyberattacks.

"The major cyber attack was only against two government agencies. An investigation is underway," the Iranian governments' official news agency, IRNA, cited MAHER as saying on Tuesday, with MAHER confirming that no evidence of a widespread cyberattack on the state-run entities has been found.

MAHER stopped short of identifying the source of attacks.

Iranian news sources previously reported on cyberattacks against Iran's Ports and Shipping Organization and several important ports' infrastructures, as well as disruption to the country's banking system.

After receiving warnings, some government agencies temporarily disconnected some services and conducted technical tests as a precautionary measure, MAHER said.

Over the past year, there have been numerous reports of an escalating cyberwar between Iran and Israel.

Hundreds of mostly unsecured Israeli websites were attacked by Iran-based hackers in May 2020, in which they disabled the sites and replaced them with a message "threatening Israel" with "destruction," local media reported.

The websites of some municipalities and institutions, including the Lake Tiberias Conservation Organization, which is an essential water source to Israel, were among the hacked centers.

"The countdown of Israel destruction has begun since a long time ago," read one warning message in Hebrew and English, posted by a group calling itself the "Hackers of Savior."

According to reports in U.S. media, Israel retaliated by attacking the Port of Shahid Rajaee in southern Iran one month later, creating mayhem that severely disrupted ships' loading and unloading for days.

The rise of cyberattacks prompted the General Staff of Iran's Armed Forces to issue a detailed statement last August, warning that if cyberattacks on Iran's "vital infrastructures" lead to "the threshold of conventional armed attacks," the Iranian armed forces have the "right to self-defense."