Iran-based hackers attacked Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), impacting a portion of the company’s computer fleet, tech site ZDNet has claimed. The incident took place on December 29.
“Iranian state-sponsored hackers have deployed a new strain of data-wiping malware on the network of Bapco, Bahrain’s national oil company,” it writes.
However, the attack did not have the long-lasting effect hackers wanted, further adds ZDNet, impacting just a portion of Bapco’s computer fleet.
Saudi Arabia’s National Cybersecurity Authority also wrote about the cyberattack in a 22-page security update, alerting local firms and urging companies to secure their networks. NCA has dubbed the new strain of malware as “Dustman”.
The agency further adds that Dustman, a so-called data wiper malware, is designed to delete data on infected computers, once launched into execution. It represents the third different data-wiping malware linked to the Tehran regime.
“The Bapco security incident came to light amid rising political tensions between the US and Iran after the US military killed a top Iranian military general in a drone strike last week.
“Although the Bapco incident doesn’t appear to be connected to the current US-Iranian political tensions, it does come to show Iran’s advanced technical capabilities when it comes to launching destructive cyber-attacks — something about which the US Department of Homeland Security had warned in an alert published over the weekend,” says the tech site.
Bapco has not published any official statement on the incident so far.
