US cyberattack took out Iran’s ability to target oil tankers: report

A cyberattack carried out by U.S. Cyber Command against Iran in June severely impacted a database used by Iran to target oil tankers, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Government officials told The New York Times that the secret cyberattack temporarily hurt Iran’s ability to target shipping traffic in the Persian Gulf.

{mosads}The officials discussed the consequences of the cyberattack in order to “quell doubts within the Trump administration” as to whether the attack was worth the loss of access to key intelligence sources in Iran, the Times reported.

U.S. Cyber Command targeted a network run by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s paramilitary forces, that U.S. intelligence reported was involved in an attack on American oil tankers earlier this year.

Iran is still working to get all its systems back online and recover data that was lost during the June cyberattack, according to the Times.

The cyberattack took place the same day President Trump called off planned military strikes on Iran in retaliation for shooting down an unarmed U.S. surveillance drone. Iran claimed the drone was in its airspace, while U.S. officials said it was in international airspace.

The White House has not commented on the Times story.

Iran denied in June that the cyberattack was successful. Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran’s minister for information and communications technology, said that Americans “try hard but have not carried out a successful attack,” adding that Iran’s national firewall helped to block this attack and others.

U.S. analysts reported in the days following the incident that Iran stepped up its cyberattacks on the U.S., specifically targeting government agencies and key sectors, including oil and gas. Iran allegedly used spear-phishing emails to try to gain access to targeted networks.