Is ISIS Behind Hacking of Iran’s Statistical Center?

26 May 2016 | 02:30 Code : 1959272 General category

Cyberattack on Markaz-e Amar has given way to speculations of ISIS complicity.

Is ISIS Behind Hacking of Iran’s Statistical Center?

(Picture: Google search results for Statistical Center of Iran)

Wednesday noon, Iranian media reported that the website of Statistical Center of Iran has been hacked by ISIS. According to reports, the incident took place on Tuesday night, May 24, 2016.

The website is still inaccessible inside Iran as of Wednesday evening. Googling the website, an Arabic phrase appears for the first result, reading "Hacked by Da3s Hacker Group". Earlier, Eghtesad News website published a screenshot of the website with a picture of Iraq's former dictator Saddam Hussein on the front page.

"This is a natural problem. The website's administrators are working on the issue," an unnamed source told Mizan, the official news agency of Iran's judiciary. The same source denied that the Statistical Center of Iran's website was hacked by ISIS. "We should not create rumors on such minor issues," he added.

The Principlist website Tabnak also cast doubt on rumors that ISIS is behind the cyberattack. "The attack is not related to ISIS at all. It seems that a Saudi hacker group is behind the story" the website claimed.

Alef, another Principlist website, also rejected speculations that Da'esh (ISIS) is behind the attack. The confusion seems to stem from the name of the hacker group, Da3s, the website argued. "The group probably enjoys support from the Saudi government," Alef said, while listing a number of other websites which have fallen victim to 'defacement', a type of cyberattack typically in form of changing appearance of the website, or injecting harmful viruses that can potentially infect the visitors' computers.

This is not the first time Iranian state-run organizations fall victim to cyberattacks from outside the country. In the best-known case, the Stuxnet worm, believed to be a joint creation of US and Israel, targeted Iran's nuclear facilities in an attempt to sabotage Iran's nuclear program. Iran's Oil Ministry also fell victim to cyberattacks in April 2012, but the extent of the damage was not disclosed.