From One to the Other

The Iranian Ministry of Science has come under attack, less than a week after the Ministry of Oil was forced offline due a cyber attack. According to one source from the Ministry, its joint projects with the Ministry of Defense were most probably of the most interest to the attackers.

According to BBC-Persian, the Iranian Ministry of Science has confirmed that its computer section has come under cyber attack, however, no damage has been incurred.

Tabnak News also reported that although the Ministry of Oil is back online, the intranet (internal network) of its subsidiary companies is still disconnected. The National Oil Distribution Company’s website has also changed its content, and no longer includes usage, export and related details.

Following the recent cyber attacks against Iran’s Ministry of Oil, the Deputy Minister of Oil at the Civil Defense Organization said that the nature of the cyber attack and its perpetrators had been identified. He clarified that details could not yet be revealed as it was an ongoing case. He added:  “On a general note, the attack was carried out by a virus aiming to steal and destroy the Ministry’s data.”

 

Responsibilities

Deputy Minister of Communications said that the 3rd Operator (RighTel) needs to be held accountable for the obligations which it has failed to fulfill and for the delays in delivering its services.

 

The Monitor

The IT Organization of Iran issued the National System of Information Security Management Activities (NAMA) certificate to five private companies. The issuing of these certificates is meant to promote and develop the information security management culture, promote security in the information exchange environment and to monitor the implementation of the information security management system.

 

Moving Up

The Director of the Center for National Management and Development of Internet, Mohammad-Reza Tavakoli, reported that there had been ‘dramatic growth’ in the number of internet users in the country. He added that a report of the latest results will be shortly published on www.iriu.ir website. This website, currently in its beta version, provides an interactive system for determining the internet penetration rate across the country.

 

Out of Service

The website, of The Organization for Targeted Subsidies was out of access on the day it had announced as its deadline for opting in/out of the second phase national subsidies. At the time of this report the website was back in service.

 

Lagging Behind

Iran’s member to the International Confederation of E-Government announced that the country was ranked 100th out of 190 countries on the list, a two place improvement from the previous year. The UAE ranks 28th, Bahrain is 36th, while Kazakhstan is 38th. The Maldives is also ahead of Iran ranking 95th. According to the 5th Economic Development, the E-governance system should be implemented in Iran by 2015.