Iran detects malware in petrochemical plants

DUBAI: Iran has detected and removed malicious software from two of its petrochemical complexes, a senior military official said on Saturday, after announcing last week it was investigating whether recent petrochemical fires were caused by cyber attacks.

The official said the malware at the two plants was inactive and had not played a role in the fires.

“In periodical inspection of petrochemical units, a type of industrial malware was detected and the necessary defensive measures were taken,” Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran’s civilian defence, was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. United States and Israel covertly sabotaged Iran’s nuclear programme in 2009 and 2010 with the Stuxnet virus, which destroyed Iranian centrifuges that were enriching uranium.

When asked if the fire at Iran’s Bu Ali Sina refinery complex last month and other fires this month were caused by the newly-discovered malware, Jalali said: “the discovery of this industrial virus is not related to recent fires.” He said last week that most of the fires in petrochemical plants happened because the privatised petrochemical companies have cut their budgets for inspections.