Revolutionary Guards unit examined vulnerabilities of smart buildings, gas stations and maritime shipping.
By United With Israel Staff
Classified documents obtained by Sky News reveal Iranian research into how cyber attacks could sink cargo ships and blow up fuel tanks in gas stations. The files also examined the vulnerabilities of smart buildings and maritime communications.
The documents indicate Iran is interested in attacking Western infrastructure, particularly in the U.S., Britain and France.
According to Sky News’ source, the documents — a collection of five research reports — were compiled by Shahid Kaveh, an offensive cyber unit within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC is on the U.S. State Department’s list of designated terror organizations.
“They are creating a target bank to be used whenever they see fit,” Sky News’ source said.
One report analyzed the computer technology that controls light, ventilation and heat in smart buildings, and the companies providing related services. A second report studied fuel pumps at gas stations and the gauges which regulate the flow of fuel. A third report analyzed how a ship could be sunk by hacking its ballast pumps. A fourth report examined international maritime communications.
A fifth report assessed a German company, WAGO, which produces electronic components.
“Everything that was outlined in the documents really fits in with what we have seen from Iranian capabilities and the way they plan their attacks, the way they structure and divide up the work and go out and actually start the process of forming an operation,” Sarah Jones, a senior principle analyst at Mandiant, a Virginia-based cybersecurity firm, told Sky News.
The research was the first step a government would take if it wanted to develop a specific cyber attack capability, Jones added.
Iranian hackers have attacked Israel’s missile warning system, water infrastructure and supply chain companies, plus a U.S. pharmaceutical company developing a cure for Covid. and computers controlling a New York-area dam.