A new “cyber” offensive coming from Tehran? American authorities suspect Iranian hackers of repeatedly infiltrating the computer systems related to gas station in several American states, CNN revealed on Friday.
Their goal? To manipulate the information displayed on the fuel tanks of gas stations (indicating a tank is empty when it’s not, indicating it’s full when it’s almost empty, etc.), some of which had no password protection on their computer systems. This may confuse users, without causing any real material damage.
However, these intrusions raise concerns in terms of cybersecurity. Several experts interviewed by CNN fear that access to such a system could theoretically allow the hacker to trigger an undetectable gas leak, causing much more serious damage.
Iran suspected, without evidence
Sources mentioned in the American media investigation indicate that the Iranian regime has a history of targeting gas tank systems. This explains, without further explanation, why Tehran is considered a suspect by American authorities.
These same sources claim that the American government may never definitively determine the responsible parties, due to lack of sufficient digital evidence.
Since the beginning of the war led by the United States and Israel against Iran, which has caused gasoline prices to soar worldwide, several reports have noted an increase in cyber attacks orchestrated by Tehran.
Among the actions detected since the start of the conflict, the cybersecurity intelligence company Unit 42 and Israeli cybersecurity specialist Check Point have identified a massive phishing attempt targeting Israelis, which they attribute to Iran.
The attackers took advantage of vulnerabilities in the Home Front Command application, widely used for providing alerts and emergency information, to send mass SMS messages to users urging them to download an update.
Key aspects of Iranian cyber activity include attacks aimed at extracting information, disinformation campaigns on social networks, recruiting agents in target countries, and harassing Iranians in exile.
