Cyber-attack blamed as Iran gas stations hit with major disruptions
The message “Cyberattack 6441" reportedly appeared on gas machines across Iran.
Motorists were forced to wait in long lines as those looking
to use government-issued cards, which many in Iran rely on to buy subsidized
fuel, were blocked from doing so.
Instead, they were met with cryptic messages on gas machines
that read: "Cyber-attack 64411," the semiofficial news agency ISNA
reported.
The digits, 64411 also appear to be the number for a phone
line connected to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office.
Speaking with state broadcaster IRIB, Abolhassan
Firoozabadi, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace, said he
believed the incident was caused by a cyber-attack from a foreign country.
However, he said it was too soon to say which country
carried out the attack.
So far, no country or group has claimed responsibility for a
cyberattack.
A spokesperson for the Iranian oil industry website SHANA
told NBC News that it appeared that only those with cards for subsidized fuel
were effected.
The issue was expected to be resolved within a matter of
hours, with fuel still available, but at a higher price, the spokesperson said.
In a message sent out to residents on Tuesday evening,
Iran's oil ministry said that "the technical problem of the fuel smart
system will be resolved soon."
The oil ministry also sought to address "rumors of
gasoline price increases," saying they are "not true."
The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for
comment from NBC News.
Neither did the National Iranian Oil Refining and
Distribution Company nor the Iranian embassy in London.
The disruptions come weeks before the anniversary of deadly
protests that were prompted by a rise in fuel prices in November 2019.
They also came as videos posted on social media claimed to show electronic street signs hacked to read: "Khamenei, where is our gasoline?" appearing to address Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
NBC News has been unable to independently verify the videos,
but Iran's semiofficial news agency Mehr reported that some signs had been
hacked.
International sanctions, as well as Iran’s political
isolation, means much of the country’s digital infrastructure relies on older,
unpatched versions of Western software, said Amir Rashidi, an Iran-born
cybersecurity expert and the director of digital rights at the Miaan Group, a
nonprofit that advocates for online rights for marginalized groups.
That leaves the country particularly vulnerable to hackers,
Rashidi said.
John Hultquist, the vice president of threat intelligence at
the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, said that there wasn’t yet enough technical
data to prove who was behind the attacks.
“I think it’s too soon to attribute this,” Hultquist said.
However, he said that Iran could retaliate if they feel a certain country is
responsible for the attack."
"Information operations means perception is reality,”
he said.
Iran has said it is on alert for online attacks, which it
has blamed on Israel and the U.S. in the past.
Meanwhile, Iran has faced accusations from the U.S. and
other Western powers of trying to hack into their own networks.
In April, Iran blamed Israel for an attack on its
underground Natanz nuclear facility that saw centrifuges used to enrich uranium
damaged.
The Trump administration was reported in 2019 to have
carried out a cyberattack campaign against Iran following attacks on Saudi
Arabia's oil facilities.
At the time, Iran maintained that the U.S.'s efforts had not
been successful.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price declined to comment
on the apparent cyberattack.
Source NBC
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