A major breakdown of a government system that manages fuel subsidies hit gas stations across Iran on Tuesday, halting sales in an occurrence that one semiofficial news outlet referred to as a cyberattack.
Long lineups of automobiles waiting to fill up in Tehran were shared online by an Iranian state television account. A reporter witnessed long lineups of cars at a Tehran gas station, which was closed and the pumps were turned off.
State TV did not elaborate on the situation but claimed officials from the Oil Ministry were holding an “emergency meeting” to resolve the technical issue.
Those attempting to purchase fuel with a government-issued card through the machines instead received a message stating “cyberattack 64411,” according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency. The majority of Iranians rely on these subsidies to keep their cars running, especially given the country’s economic woes.
While ISNA downplayed the significance of the number, it is linked to a hotline operated by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that answers concerns regarding Islamic law. ISNA eventually took down its reports.
Farsi-language satellite networks in other countries broadcast videos of electronic billboards in Isfahan, a major Iranian city that read: “Khamenei!” “Can you tell me where our gas is?” “Free gas in Jamaran gas station,” added another, referring to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s residence.
No one claimed credit for the disruption right away. However, the usage of the number “64411” was similar to an attack on Iran’s railroad system in July, in which the number was also shown. Check Point, an Israeli cybersecurity firm, later blamed the train attack on a group of hackers known as Indra, named after the Hindu god of war.
Indra has already targeted companies in Syria, where President Bashar Assad has clung to power thanks to Iran’s role in the country’s long-running civil conflict.
Iran has been subjected to a number of cyberattacks, including one in August that resulted in the release of video documenting abuses at the country’s notorious Evin prison.
After the Stuxnet computer virus, widely thought to be a joint US-Israeli development, destroyed thousands of Iranian centrifuges in the country’s nuclear plants in the late 2000s, the country blocked much of its government infrastructure from the internet.
