DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s telecommunications minister accused Israel on Monday of a new cyber attack on its telecommunications infrastructure, and vowed to respond with legal action.

FILE PHOTO: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is seen during a meeting with students at the Hussayniyeh of Imam Khomeini in Tehran, Iran, November 3, 2018. Official Khamenei website/Handout via REUTERS

This followed comments from another official last week that Iran had uncovered a new generation of Stuxnet, a virus which was used against the country’s nuclear program more than a decade ago.

“The Zionist regime (Israel), with its record of using cyber weapons such as Stuxnet computer virus, launched a cyber attack on Iran on Monday to harm Iran’s communication infrastructures,” Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said.

“Thanks to our vigilant technical teams, it failed,” he said on Twitter. Iran would take legal action against Israel at international bodies, he added, without giving details.

His deputy Hamid Fattahi said more details would be revealed in the coming days, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Stuxnet, which is widely believed to have been developed by the United States and Israel, was discovered in 2010 after it was used to attack a uranium enrichment facility at Iran’s Natanz underground nuclear site.

It was the first publicly known example of a virus being used to attack industrial machinery.

Last week, Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran’s civil defense agency, said Iran had neutralized a version of Stuxnet.

“Recently we discovered a new generation of Stuxnet which consisted of several parts ... and was trying to enter our systems,” Jalali was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency. He gave no further details.

In 2013, researchers at Symantec Corp uncovered a version of the Stuxnet that was used to attack the Iranian nuclear program in November 2007.

Tehran agreed under a 2015 deal with world powers to curb the program but President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of it in May, with Israel’s backing. Washington fully restored sanctions on Tehran on Monday.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week called for stepped up efforts to fight enemy “infiltration” in a speech to officials in charge of cyber defense, state television reported.</s>DUBAI: Iran's telecommunications minister accused Israel on Monday (Nov 5) of a new cyber attack on its telecommunications infrastructure, and vowed to respond with legal action.

This followed comments from another official last week that Iran had uncovered a new generation of Stuxnet, a virus which was used against the country's nuclear programme more than a decade ago.

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"The Zionist regime (Israel), with its record of using cyber weapons such as Stuxnet computer virus, launched a cyber attack on Iran on Monday to harm Iran's communication infrastructures," Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said.

"Thanks to our vigilant technical teams, it failed," he said on Twitter. Iran would take legal action against Israel at international bodies, he added, without giving details.

His deputy Hamid Fattahi said more details would be revealed in the coming days, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Stuxnet, which is widely believed to have been developed by the United States and Israel, was discovered in 2010 after it was used to attack a uranium enrichment facility at Iran's Natanz underground nuclear site.

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It was the first publicly known example of a virus being used to attack industrial machinery.

Last week, Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran's civil defence agency, said Iran had neutralised a version of Stuxnet.

"Recently we discovered a new generation of Stuxnet which consisted of several parts ... and was trying to enter our systems," Jalali was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency. He gave no further details.

In 2013, researchers at Symantec Corp uncovered a version of the Stuxnet that was used to attack the Iranian nuclear programme in November 2007.

Tehran agreed under a 2015 deal with world powers to curb the programme but President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of it in May, with Israel's backing. Washington fully restored sanctions on Tehran on Monday.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week called for stepped up efforts to fight enemy "infiltration" in a speech to officials in charge of cyber defence, state television reported.

</s>Iran’s telecommunications minister accused Israel on Monday of a new cyberattack on its telecom infrastructure, and vowed to respond with legal action.

This followed comments from another official last week that Iran had uncovered a new generation of Stuxnet, a virus which was used against the country’s nuclear program more than a decade ago.

“The Zionist regime (Israel), with its record of using cyberweapons such as Stuxnet computer virus, launched a cyberattack on Iran on Monday to harm Iran’s communication infrastructures,” Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said.

“Thanks to our vigilant technical teams, it failed,” he said on Twitter. Iran would take legal action against Israel at international bodies, he added, without giving details.

His deputy Hamid Fattahi said more details would be revealed in the coming days, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Stuxnet, which is widely believed to have been developed by the United States and Israel, was discovered in 2010 after it was used to attack a uranium enrichment facility at Iran’s Natanz underground nuclear site.

It was the first publicly known example of a virus being used to attack industrial machinery.

Last week, Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran’s civil defense agency, said Iran had neutralized a version of Stuxnet.

“Recently we discovered a new generation of Stuxnet which consisted of several parts … and was trying to enter our systems,” Jalali was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency. He gave no further details.

In 2013, researchers at Symantec Corp uncovered a version of the Stuxnet that was used to attack the Iranian nuclear program in November 2007.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week called for stepped-up efforts to fight enemy “infiltration” in a speech to officials in charge of cyber defense, state broadcasting reported.</s>Iran has accused Israel of launching a failed cyberattack against its communications systems.

Information Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi made the accusation on November 5 using his Twitter account.

Jahromi said the cyberattack had been thwarted because of "the vigilance of technical teams" in Iran.

Earlier, Jahromi’s deputy, Hamid Fattahi, said technical teams had intercepted multiple attempts to infiltrate Iran's communications systems early on November 5.

Fattahi said the hackers had been "strongly warded off."

Tehran’s claims come just a week after General Gholam Reza Jalali, head of the Iranian military unit in charge of combating sabotage, said that President Hassan Rohani's cell phone had recently been tapped.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP</s>Earlier this month, the head of Iran's civil defense, Gholamreza Jalali, claimed thathad been discovered by Iranian authorities.Hamid Fatahi, the CEO of Iran's Telecommunications Company, stated on Twitter on Monday that the country hadCommenting on the attacks, Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi re-posted Fatahi's tweet, confirming that the hackers were "attempting to harm Iran's communications infrastructure," and also said thatEarlier this year, Israel claimed that it had accomplished a major cyber-heist, obtaining an archive that allegedly documented that Iran was continuing to work on its nuclear weapons program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the information at the UN General Assembly in September.</s>Hamid Fatahi, the CEO of Iran's Telecommunications Company, stated on Twitter on Monday that the country had foiled a wave of cyberattacks, allegedly conducted by Israel, targeting communications infrastructure of the Islamic Republic. According to the CEO, the operations against Iran "were firmly foiled."

Today, Some of our communication infrastructures have been attacked by some sources in an illegal regime. It was such an EASY TO DEFEAT THEM! They showed to the Int'l community that their accusation against Iran for #CyberAttacks was just a ridiculous delusion. Remember Stuxnet. — Hamid Fatahi (@fatahi_ir) 5 ноября 2018 г.

Earlier this year, Israel claimed that it had accomplished a major cyber-heist, obtaining an archive that allegedly documented that Iran was continuing to work on its nuclear weapons program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the information at the UN General Assembly in September.</s>TEHRAN - Iran has successfully thwarted cyber attacks by Israel targeting the country’s communications infrastructure, said a report by the Press TV, quoting an Iranian official, on Monday.

The attack was an attempt by Israel to launch sporadic cyber assaults against the Islamic republic’s communications infrastructure, said Hamid Fatahi, CEO of Iran’s Telecommunications Company.

“The (Israeli) regime, with a notorious background in using cyber weapons in the cases such as Stuxnet, was this time attempting to harm Iran’s communications infrastructure,” Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi said later on Monday.

However, “they had to go away empty-handed thanks to the vigilance of our technical teams,” Azari Jahromi said.

“We will pursue this hostile move through international tribunals,” he added.</s>Iran accused Israel on Monday of launching a failed cyber attack against its communications systems.

"A regime whose record in using cyber weapons is clear from cases such as Stuxnet has tried this time to damage Iran's communication infrastructure," said Information Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi on his Twitter account.

He was referring to the Stuxnet virus, discovered in 2010 and believed to have been engineered by Israel and the United States, which damaged nuclear facilities in Iran.

"Thanks to vigilance of the technical teams, they returned empty-handed. We will follow up this hostile action through international forums," Jahromi said.

His deputy, Hamid Fattahi, said technical teams had intercepted multiple attempts to infiltrate their systems early on Monday, and had been "strongly warded off".
The Iranian telecommunication minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi accuses Israel of a failed cyberattack on its telecommunications infrastructure, and vows to respond with legal action.