Iran targeted in new malware attack
Iranian government says it is the target of ongoing cyberattacks. First it was Stuxnet, and now it's malware known as "Stars."
Iran is investigating new malware dubbed "Stars" that government officials say is being targeted at the country as part of ongoing cyberattacks.
"The particular characteristics of the Stars virus have been discovered," Gholamreza Jalali, commander of the Iranian civil defense organization, told the Mehr news agency according to Reuters.
"The virus is congruous and harmonious with the (computer) system and in the initial phase it does minor damage and might be mistaken for some executive files of government organizations," he said, declining to specify what equipment the virus targets.
Jalali said efforts to contain last year's Stuxnet infections are ongoing and called on the foreign ministry to take action to stop the "cyber wars" against the country.
Officials in Iran have accused the U.S. and Israel of being behind Stuxnet, which spread through Windows holes and targeted specific Siemens industrial control software. Experts speculate it was written to sabotage Iran's nuclear program.