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In the past, it was discovered that a nefarious and highly advanced malware, Flame, was used to target machines in Iran and Middle East. Attacks were also made on Iran’s energy sector. Now, U.S. has accused Iran of a similar act, citing that Iranian hackers have been targeting energy companies based in U.S.

The U.S. government has been increasingly vocal in pointing fingers towards external cyber threats, although it always falls short of citing clear proofs. In the latest of such accusations, current and former U.S. officials have claimed that Iranian hackers have launched a concerted cyber-war against U.S. energy companies.

The hackers, we have been told, have been using infiltration and surveillance tactics, which essentially point to the possibility that they are simply trying to lay their hands on classified, sensitive information. According to one official, in a recent cyber attack, Iranian hackers were able to access advanced control-system software, so that they were on the verge of being able to control oil and gas pipelines.

While this attempt was successfully thwarted, the U.S. official cited that the instance has worried many. As a result of this, and other similar incidents, the U.S. government has been warning the Iranian regime, who is believed to be backing such hacking attempts.

According to a U.S. official, “This is representative of stepped-up cyber activity by the Iranian regime. The more they do this, the more our concerns grow. What they have done so far has certainly been noticed, and they should be cautious.”

However, it would be unfair to state that Iran has been alone in this. U.S. has actively tried to deploy nefarious software, such as the Stuxnet worm, in order to target Iranian nuclear facilities. So in a way, the cyber war is both ways and the fact that U.S. refuses to acknowledge its blatant participation in this war, will only exacerbate the tensions between the two countries.

Courtesy: WSJ

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