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By Trend

Iran has foiled cyber attack attempts which targeted its petrochemical complex, Gholam Reza Jalali, Brigadier General, head of Iran's Civil Defense Organization, said.

During the inspections in one of the country’s petrochemical complexes, inactivated viruses were discovered and the necessary defensive measures were taken in this regard, Jalali said, SHANA news agency reported Aug. 27.

He did not unveil further details on the issue.

Jalali also said that the investigations carried out by his organization revealed no link between recent fire incidents in petrochemical complexes and a cyber attack.

A series of fires and explosions in major Iranian oil and gas facilities in recent weeks killed at least one and caused major damage. The fire brigades were extinguishing the first fire, which started on July 6, in the Bouali petrochemical plant on the Persian Gulf coast, three days. There were no fatalities but damages are estimated to be tens of millions of dollars and insurers say it could be the biggest compensation claim in Iran’s history.

Earlier, Abolhasan Firouzabadi, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Cyberspace Council, said that it is considering cyber attacks as a possible cause of the unprecedented incidents.

Iran’s oil industry was damaged as a result of various cyber attacks previously. In April 2012 a virus forced the oil ministry to disconnect its main oil terminals and facilities from the Internet to protect them from damage.

Last year Iran accused the US of new cyber attacks against the Iranian oil ministry website. The attacks continued for four days during the holidays of Iranian New Year (started on March 21, 2015), Kamal Hadianfar, Brigadier General, head of the Islamic Republic Cyber Police said, adding that the attacks were carried out from IPs inside the United States.

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