Israel silent as Iran hit by computer virus more violent than Stuxnet

Tehran strategic networks attacked, Hadashot TV says, hours after Israel 
revealed it tipped off Denmark about Iran murder plot, and days after 
Rouhani's phone was found bugged

31 October 2018

Iranian infrastructure and strategic networks have come under attack in 
the last few days by a computer virus similar to Stuxnet but “more 
violent, more advanced and more sophisticated,” and Israeli officials 
are refusing to discuss what role, if any, they may have had in the 
operation, an Israeli TV report said Wednesday.

The report came hours after Israel said its Mossad intelligence agency 
had thwarted an Iranian murder plot in Denmark, and two days after Iran 
acknowledged that President Hassan Rouhani's mobile phone had been 
bugged. It also follows a string of Israeli intelligence coups against 
Iran, including the extraction from Tehran in January by the Mossad of 
the contents of a vast archive documenting Iran's nuclear weapons 
program, and the detailing by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the 
UN in September of other alleged Iranian nuclear and missile assets 
inside Iran, in Syria and in Lebanon.

“Remember Stuxnet, the virus that penetrated the computers of the 
Iranian nuclear industry?” the report on Israel's Hadashot news asked. 
Iran “has admitted in the past few days that it is again facing a 
similar attack, from a more violent, more advanced and more 
sophisticated virus than before, that has hit infrastructure and 
strategic networks.”

The Iranians, the TV report went on, are “not admitting, of course, how 
much damage has been caused.”

On Sunday, Gholamreza Jalali, the head of Iran's civil defense agency, 
said Tehran had neutralized a new version of Stuxnet, Reuters reported. 
“Recently we discovered a new generation of Stuxnet which consisted of 
several parts … and was trying to enter our systems,” Jalali said.

The Stuxnet virus was uncovered some eight years ago, and was widely 
reported to have been developed together by US and Israeli intelligence. 
It penetrated Iran's rogue nuclear program, taking control and 
sabotaging parts of its enrichment processes by speeding up its centrifuges.

Netanyahu is adamant that the Iranian regime remains determined to 
attain a nuclear weapons arsenal, and has bitterly opposed the P5+1 
powers' 2015 deal with Iran. US President Donald Trump, with whom 
Netanyahu is closely allied, withdrew from the accord in May.

Referring to Stuxnet, Wednesday's TV report noted that “in the past, the 
US and Israel have been alleged to have worked together on operations.” 
Trying to establish whether Israel had any role in the latest 
cyberattack, the TV report said: “We've tried to clarify here. They're 
refusing to comment.”

The TV report noted that “behind the scenes lately, the Mossad,” under 
its director Yossi Cohen, has been “fighting a real shadow war.”

Without attributing responsibility to the Mossad, the report mentioned 
the tapping of Rouhani's phone, noting that the Iranians “had to switch 
it for an encrypted model because they understand that someone has been 
listening to him for days and weeks.”

On Sunday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged 
intensified efforts to counter enemy “infiltration,” Reuters said.

In a speech to officials in charge of cyber defense, Khamenei said: “In 
the face of the enemy's complex practices, our civil defense should… 
confront infiltration through scientific, accurate, and up-to-date… 
action,” the report said, quoting Iranian state TV.

Earlier Wednesday, Israeli officials said the Mossad provided its Danish 
counterpart with information concerning an alleged plot by Tehran to 
assassinate three Iranian opposition figures living in the Scandinavian 
country. According to the officials, the Mossad gave Denmark information 
about a plot to kill three Iranians suspected of belonging to the 
anti-regime Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz.

The intelligence reportedly provided by the Mossad prompted the arrest 
of a Norwegian national of Iranian origin earlier this month. Denmark on 
Tuesday recalled its ambassador to Iran over the incident.

“What Iran hides, Israel will find,” Netanyahu declared in his September 
UN speech.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/tv-report-israel-silent-as-iran-hit-by-computer-v
irus-more-violent-than-stuxnet/
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2