Computer worm hits Iran government network, military official says

Apr 25, 2011, 13:24 GMT

Tehran - Iran's government networks have been attacked by a second computer worm following last year's Stuxnet computer virus, a military official said Monday.

Gholam-Reaz Jalali, head of the anti-sabotage and civil defence unit, told Mehr news agency that the new worm is called Stars.

He did not comment further on the target or the damage but said experts were evaluating the malicious software.

The Stuxnet computer virus last year reportedly affected the computers of several industrial units, including the country's nuclear programme, although Iran's leaders have denied this.

The entire core of the country's only atomic power plant in the southern Gulf port of Bushehr had to be changed, reportedly due to technical problems.

Although reloaded earlier this month by Russian contractors, the operational phase of the plant and its connection to the national grid was again delayed.

Former industrial minister Hassan Ghafouri-Fard told Mehr news agency that it would have been more economical to build a new plant rather than solving the problems of the Bushehr plant.

No one has claimed responsibility for Stuxnet, but Iran's two arch-foes, the United States and Israel, both of whom see Iran's nuclear programmes as an existential threat to the Jewish state, are believed to have been behind the virus.

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