Iran's Oil Industry Hit By Cyber Attacks

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Iran's Oil Industry Hit By Cyber Attacks

Posted by Unknown on Monday April 23, 2012 @07:02PM from the causing-industrial-accidents-for-fun-and-profit dept.

wiredmikey writes "Iran disconnected computer systems at a number of its oil facilities in response to a cyber attack that hit multiple industry targets during the weekend. A source at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) reportedly told Reuters that a virus was detected inside the control systems of Kharg Island oil terminal, which handles the majority of Iran's crude oil exports. In addition, computer systems at Iran's Oil Ministry and its national oil company were hit. There has been no word on the details of the malware found, but computer systems controlling several of Iran's oil facilities were disconnected from the Internet as a precaution. Oil Ministry spokesman Ali Reza Nikzad-Rahbar told Mehr News Agency on Monday that the attack had not caused significant damage and the worm had been detected before it could infect systems."

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ITT by WinstonWolfIT · 2012-04-23 19:14 · Score: 5, Insightful

In this thread, we have a computer at one of Iran's larger oil companies popping up an Avast alert due to an intern attempting to surf porn, and because of policies in place due to stuxnet, the entire computing infrastructure of Iran shuts down as a result. Gotta love spy.v.spy.
Re:how long? by Black+Parrot · 2012-04-23 19:26 · Score: 5, Informative

11 years ago.
I suppose you're implicating Iran in the 9/11 attacks, though it's hard to imagine anyone could be so ignorant.
Most of the participants came from "friendly" countries.

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Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Eh? by solarissmoke · 2012-04-23 19:30 · Score: 2

How's that for an oxymoron:

The worm had been detected before it could infect systems.
Re:Closing the door after the horse has bolted by jaymemaurice · 2012-04-23 19:53 · Score: 4, Insightful

Except... nuclear enrichment facilities were not on the net...

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120 characters ought to be enough for anyone
Re:how long? by arglebargle_xiv · 2012-04-23 19:54 · Score: 5, Interesting

before Iran retaliates and the whole thing escalates into WW3
There's almost nothing of any note on Kharq Island any more, most of it was destroyed during the Iran/Iraq war and never rebuilt. Have a look on Google Maps/Earth, there's a handful of oil storage tanks down the southern end, most of them completely empty, and one single ship that's almost certainly a bulk carrier (not an oil ship) docked there. The only reason Iran bothers to maintain a presence there is to extend their territorial claims into the Persian Gulf.
This is some sort of political shenanigans being played by Iran, nothing more.
Re:Recent IT escalation? by LittleImp · 2012-04-23 20:07 · Score: 4, Insightful

Occams Razor: Someone accidentally downloaded a virus while surfing at work.
Re:how long? by Grayhand · 2012-04-23 20:15 · Score: 3, Insightful

"Most of the participants came from "friendly" countries." Saudi Arabia is only "friendly" if you are an oil company. It certainly isn't friendly if you are a woman or a Jew. It's funny how billions of dollars in oil can make you a friend no matter how hostile you are.
Re:how long? by Dr+Max · 2012-04-23 20:18 · Score: 2

This sounds a bit more sophisticated than your average ddos ers. You need specially designed worms to go after control systems, and once its in there its no use just doing random stuff or breaking it; you need to change the right values just enough to disrupt production but not enough to be noticed (otherwise they just replace the $50 chip), or try to cause a massive explosion by going after some vital pieces of equipment and disabling all safety stops (while appearing normal to the human operators). Not saying some mad scientist hacker engineer couldn't do it on there own, but Israel and america are much more likely culprits (they have better access to companies providing Iran's equipment) and after the hacking of the US drone while over Iran i'm thinking its the world police.

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Rocket Surgeon.
Wrong on two accounts :) by tinkerton · 2012-04-23 20:19 · Score: 3, Insightful

I don't see how pp would be implicating that. And your imagination is seriously lacking. A majority of Americans at some point believed Saddam was behind 9/11, and in the military it was over 80%.
The claims about Iran aiding Al Qaedy aren't very successful.. On the other hand currently 71% of americans think Iran already has nuclear weapons (CNN nationwide poll, quality of sampling not known). While at the same time the NYTimes has stopped claiming that the west suspects Iran is working on a bomb, as a result of intelligence services speaking out loud enough. The claim has been quietly modified to "Iran might want to use their civilian program to help them to make a bomb later on".
1. Re:Wrong on two accounts :) by SuricouRaven · 2012-04-23 20:33 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I'm no expert on nuclear engineering, but I gather that if you have a full nuclear power program it isn't that hard to make a bomb. The enrichment capability is exactly the same equipment, you just have to keep cycling until you reach weapons-grade. Once you've got the uranium to weapons-grade, a basic gun-type nuclear device is so simple any metalworking shop could make it with ease. It's the enrichment that's the big, expensive, highly-skilled part.
2. Re:Wrong on two accounts :) by tinkerton · 2012-04-23 20:50 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Maybe you're overstating things a bit but I roughly agree, and it's called nuclear capability. Iran is fully aware of the military capability of a civilian program, and this is part of their deterrence strategy. This is El Baradei's viewpoint and US and Israeli intelligence agrees with it. It is also a legitimate strategy.
  An agreement with Iran would involve keeping the development time to a full bomb as long as possible and the safeguards as thorough as possible. The real sticking point lies elsewhere: normalization of relations with Iran will make them a regional player. Unfortunately that's happening anyway so the question for the US is whether they want to be part of it or not.
3. Re:Wrong on two accounts :) by Elrond,+Duke+of+URL · 2012-04-23 23:03 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  You're definitely far overstating the issue here...
  A real civilian nuclear program simply cannot be used to create a bomb as-is. All of that complex and expensive technology needed to enrich uranium is not needed for regular reactor fuel. And, beyond that, actually building the bomb once you have the materials is definitely not "so simple" a task as you seem to think. The theory of how a "gun-type" bomb works might be, relatively speaking, simple, but the implementation of that theory is far from it. It takes a lot of knowledge and a lot of skill. If you actually want your bomb to detonate instead of just blow up like a pipe bomb, you need to carefully engineer the thing with very tight tolerances.
  The real trouble and the real danger is that you can convert a civilian nuclear program or build upon it and create the tools and facilities needed for a military nuclear program. I really don't know what sort of program Iran might have or how far along it could be. Certainly, the Israelis seem to think it is real and very active. Proper monitoring could, conceivably, keep the civilian program in check and make sure it doesn't get used improperly. But, if Iran is hell bent on creating a bomb, I suppose there are a lot of ways they could hide it. I've read reports and rumors in the paper that Iran is building underground facilities to hold the bomb making gear.
  
  --
  Elrond, Duke of URL
  "This is the most fun I've had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"-Sam&Max
Re:how long? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-04-23 20:21 · Score: 3, Insightful

Most of the participants came from "friendly" countries.
"Most of the participants came from "friendly" countries." Saudi Arabia is only "friendly" if you are an oil company. It certainly isn't friendly if you are a woman or a Jew. It's funny how billions of dollars in oil can make you a friend no matter how hostile you are.
I'm pretty sure that is why he put quotation marks around the word "friendly" to indicate ironic intent.
Re:how long? by Dr+Max · 2012-04-23 20:39 · Score: 2

Then again this could of been blown way out of proportion and it was a vigilante without a hope in hell of doing anything, or even simple internet virus.

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Rocket Surgeon.
Re:how long? by nukem996 · 2012-04-23 20:41 · Score: 2

I suppose you're implicating Iran in the 9/11 attacks, though it's hard to imagine anyone could be so ignorant.
Well most people still think Iraq had something to do with 9/11. With the push for war against Iran I wouldn't be surprised more people started to beleive that.
Re:Closing the door after the horse has bolted by SuricouRaven · 2012-04-23 20:51 · Score: 2

Correct. Stuxnet spread via multiple vectors, but the route by which it got into industrial control equipment was infected USB stick.
They have found the solution by Hentes · 2012-04-23 20:59 · Score: 2

There has been no word on the details of the malware found, but computer systems controlling several of Iran's oil facilities were disconnected from the Internet as a precaution.
And that's exactly how all the great "cyberwars" will end.
...until the US attacks yet another country? by Vincent77 · 2012-04-23 21:26 · Score: 3, Insightful

There is one country that has most of the nuclear warheads, Interfered in or even started most of the wars in the past 20 years, and is not silent on their goal for world-domination, and guess once, it is not Iran.
Simple rule of thumb. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-04-23 21:37 · Score: 3, Funny

DON'T CONNECT CRITICAL SYSTEMS TO THE FUCKING INTERNET!
"Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING."
I am yelling.
Re:I bet the Jews did this by jon_doh2.0 · 2012-04-23 22:23 · Score: 4, Insightful

Come on: There are a plethora of cases where "anti Zionism" (why can't we just call it criticism of a state actor?) does not = antisemitism. Zionism and Judaism are not synonymous.
Re:how long? by Ihmhi · 2012-04-23 23:15 · Score: 4, Informative

Saudi Arabia is only "friendly" if you are an oil company.
Then I guess America is the biggest fucking oil company in the world.

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Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
Re:how long? by kj_kabaje · 2012-04-23 23:33 · Score: 2

...i'm thinking its the world police.
Oh... you mean U.N.I.T.? Good, then the Doctor's already on this one.
Re:Quite by ledow · 2012-04-23 23:33 · Score: 4, Interesting

You can have Internet access on the computer next to it - what's that got to do with having critical control systems accessible over the Internet?
1) Separate the two PHYSICAL networks.
2) Make sure that there are only authorised devices sit on the control network and NEVER anything else (big, huge, red lights and warnings when something new is detected).
3) Make sure that even pulling the Internet cable out does not in any way affect the control system, and that tampering with the control system or even detecting a single packet destined for or originating from anything other than authorised devices sets off so many warnings people wouldn't even try.
4) IF YOU REALLY MUST - make the control system expose only the absolute minimum of controls (i.e. don't trust user input and act only on a given, set, limited protocol of commands) over an encrypted protocol to only authorised devices from authorised networks that know all the one-time-passwords and whatever else you want to use to secure it. And never expose any interface that has the potential to be compromised autonomously (e.g. web interfaces etc.) - there's no need for it and the interface should NEVER be able to do anything but issue valid commands with all appropriate normal safeguards applied to them.
You do NOT need a general purpose operating system to run a nuclear reactor - it's not only an incredibly bad idea, they warn you against doing things like that in the OS EULA itself because it's JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH and provides too much scope for mischief.
One day, someone is going to end up running a nuclear reactor on Windows or something because they're just too thick to realise that's a problem and the slow creep of GPOS's into our lives will mean they will see nothing wrong with it.
Re:how long? by hey_popey · 2012-04-23 23:56 · Score: 2

Maybe one of the biggest? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum#Consumption_statistics
Re:Cold war by AmiMoJo · 2012-04-23 23:59 · Score: 4, Interesting

To those who modded me -1 Troll:
What is your explanation for this behaviour? The US and Israel are at war with Iran, invading their air space with drones, surrounding them with military bases and the US Navy, and launching cyber-attacks against their infrastructure. Do they think that if they keep at it Iran will just give up and abandon all nuclear and space research, give up their arms and become a placid non-threatening nation? With Israel still right next door?
How do you think this is going to end? What possible sequence of events could lead to a peaceful resolution? How will attacking Iran make them decide to stop developing nuclear weapons?

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const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Another could say by arcite · 2012-04-24 00:09 · Score: 2

That Israel isn't too friendly with minorities found within its borders these days either. The whole region is full of extremists.
1. Re:Another could say by crazyjj · 2012-04-24 01:33 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It probably doesn't help that Israel built a giant fucking wall around the entire West Bank, effectively creating a Palestinian ghetto. I guess they learned something from the Nazi's after all.
  
  --
  What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
who needs fission when you have slagged fuel rods? by swschrad · 2012-04-24 07:44 · Score: 2

you can kill more, more slowly, before anybody catches on, with a dirty bomb.
basically five pounds of nucleide dust hermetically sealed with a bunch of BBs and high explosive.
takes a lot of expertise to send a ballistic missle 2400 miles and hit the equivalent of a Volkswagen for maximum effect with a fission weapon..
takes two gomers sneaking across the border with a backpack and climbing some half-decent TV tower to do the other.

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if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?