Iranian major steel firm halts production due to cyberattack

On June 27, Iranian major steel firm reported it was forced to halt production after being hit by a hacker attack.

The Iranian government did not acknowledge the disruption or blame any specific group for the assault on the state-owned Khuzestan Steel Co., which constitutes just the latest example of an attack crippling the country's services in recent months amid heightened tensions in the region.

A little-known hacking gang claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on social media, saying it targeted Iran's three biggest steel companies because of their links to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and volunteer Basij militia.

The gang shared what it claimed to be surveillance footage from the Khuzestan Steel Co. factory floor that showed a massive fire erupt on a steel billet production line after the purported disruption:

These companies are subject to international sanctions and continue their operations despite the restrictions.

Khuzestan Steel Co. said the plant had to stop work until further notice "due to technical problems" following "cyberattacks." The firm's website was down on June 27.

In the same time, however, a local news channel, Jamaran, reported that the cyberattack failed because the factory happened to be non-operational at the time due to an electricity outage.

The other day, California-based cryptocurrency firm Harmony announced that threat actors have stolen $100 million worth of cryptocurrency from one of its blockchain bridges.