'Iran infiltrated most sensitive enemy cyber data'

Rear Admiral Fadavi of Iran's naval branch claims Islamic Republic has decrypted highly classified data, promoted "cyberwar code."

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
Iranians work on computer [illustrative] 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Caren Firouz)
Iranians work on computer [illustrative] 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Caren Firouz)
A senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claimed on Sunday that Iran has managed to infiltrate and decrypt its enemies’ highly classified data.
R.-Adm. Ali Fadavi of the IRGC’s naval branch said that the navy’s cyber corps had “infiltrated the enemy’s most sensitive information” and successfully promoted “cyberwar code,” according to a report on Sepah News, the IRGC’s official news site.
Fadavi did not specify the name of any particular enemy, but went on to talk about what he called “imperialistic domination,” referring to Iran’s “enmity with America.”
The IRGC rear admiral claimed that Iran’s enemies were increasing their activity in cyberspace and on satellite networks.
Fadavi added that in the past month alone, “counterrevolutionaries” had improved their Persian-language networks, and therefore Iran must direct its resources to this area by deploying its own experts.
Fadavi added that information security must be a priority for the IRGC.
“If we do not have sufficient data security, our enemies could easily take advantage and collect intelligence.
The enemy is willing to spend billions to get the tiniest bit of our data,” Fadavi added.
Fadavi was speaking at a ceremony in Tehran to open the IRGC naval branch’s new information technology systems.
The naval branch of the IRGC, which oversees operations in the Persian Gulf, is 12,000-15,000 strong, according to the United States Institute of Peace.
Fadavi’s comments came a week after a group calling itself the Iranian DataCoders Security Team claimed on its Facebook page that it had hacked 370 “Zionist websites.”
The group also maintains a website with an Internet discussion forum, which is currently not working but is registered to an address and telephone number in Kermanshah, Iran.
Fadavi’s remarks also come after the deputy commander of the IRGC’s ground forces said last week that Iran believed a cyber war was more dangerous than a conventional war.
Iran had developed “new tools” to fight cyber war, Maj.-Gen. Abdollah Araghi said.
Iran has cracked down on cyber security since 2010, when its uranium enrichment centrifuges were hit by the Stuxnet virus. In April, Iran’s main oil export terminal on Kharg Island was hit by a computer virus that forced the authorities to disconnect the terminal from the Internet.