Several American and European officials, who asked not to be named, say the Islamic Republic’s computer experts have successfully thwarted and purged the Stuxnet malware from the country’s industrial facilities, reported Reuters on Tuesday.
The officials, however, did not provide any details on how they verified that the Iranians had disabled the virus.
In June 2010, Iran identified the virus, Stuxnet, averting damage to the country's industrial sites and resources.
Stuxnet is a malware designed to infect computers using supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems made by the German company Siemens -- which are favored by industries that manage water supplies, oilrigs, and power plants.
In July 2010, media reports claimed that Stuxnet had targeted industrial computers around the globe, with Iran being the main target of the attack. The reports said Iran's newly launched Bushehr nuclear power plant was at the center of the cyber attack.
Many of the Western computer experts hold the US and the Israeli regime accountable for inventing and orchestrating the Stuxnet malware to damage Iran's nuclear infrastructure.
This comes while Iran has repeatedly reassured that its nuclear facilities are immune to enemy cyber attacks.
On February 13, Director of Iran's Passive Defense Organization Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali said that Iranian experts enjoy the necessary know-how to counter cyber threats, adding “Many viruses are produced worldwide everyday which are monitored by [Iran’s] cyber defense headquarters. So far the viruses have left no destructive impact on the country.”
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Western officials have confirmed Iranian engineers’ success in countering the Israeli-led cyber attacks aimed at damaging Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
News ID 181500
