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Stuxnet attack ‘made us pay attention’ to cyber security, says senior Iranian general

IRGC Gen. Gholamreza Jalali, head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization: Nuclear sites experience as many as 50,000 cyber attacks a day; Israel, neighboring countries “steal our clouds” as part of a “climate war.”

Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Gholamreza Jalali. (MEMRI)
Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Gholamreza Jalali. (MEMRI)

Iran’s nuclear facilities experience as many as 50,000 cyber attacks a day and neighboring countries are cooperating with Israel to “steal” Iran’s clouds, a senior Iranian general claimed during a recent television interview.

Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps General Gholamreza Jalali told Iran’s Channel 5 TV in September that the 2010 Stuxnet cyber attack had had the positive effect of “causing us to pay attention” to the cyber security of its nuclear installations.

These sites, said Jalali, who heads Iran’s Civil Defense Organization, experience as many as 50,000 cyber attacks per day, ranging from unimportant viruses that are automatically taken care of by security systems to what he referred to as “cyber weapons.” These, Jalali said, are advanced viruses with several encrypted layers, and which hide in, gather intelligence on and sabotage computer systems.

There are fewer than 10 cyber-weapon attacks per year, said Jalali, adding that Iran has thus far successfully defended itself from such attacks.

He went on to reiterate previous statements of his to the effect that certain neighboring countries are cooperating with Israel to “steal” Iran’s clouds. He clarified that he suspects a “climate war” is being waged against Iran by means of technology that affects the atmosphere and ionosphere.

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