Iranian Officials Claim Second Cyber Attack: The Stars Virus

Iran has stated that they have detected a new virus, called Stars, as a sequel to the Stuxnet virus which infected Iranian computers in 2010. Iran’s commander of civil defense, Gholamreza Jalali, stated that the virus was detected by security experts and is now being analyzed. Jalali declares this the second attack in a new “cyber war” carried out by western governments.


Jalali said to the Iranian Mehr news agency that “Fortunately, our young experts have been able to discover this virus and the Stars virus is now in the laboratory for more investigations. The particular characteristics of the Stars virus have been discovered. The virus is congruous and harmonious with the (computer) system and in the initial phase it does minor damage and might be mistaken for some executive files of government organisations.”


However this is in the very early stage of virus news. Iran has not yet supplied the Stars virus it found to outside security firms for in-depth analysis. Details of the Stars virus are unknown, other than the fact that Iran claims to have discovered it. Its true intent, specifically whether or not it is meant for Iran is yet to be confirmed.


Until Iran allows outside security firms to analyze the Stars virus nothing can be truly be confirmed as fact. The Stars virus could be a mistaken for a common virus throughout the internet and not intended for Iran or its government in particular. Thousands of new viruses are discovered each day around the globe with varying intentions. Mistaken identity and intent could be the case with the Stars virus.


The first virus in the “cyber war” Jalali refers to, is the Stuxnet virus. The Stuxnet virus is an extremely sophisticated virus aimed at Iran’s nuclear program. The Stuxnet virus targeted the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, specifically the centrifuge control systems. Security firms have stated that only a government entity could have created the sophisticated Stuxnet virus, bolstering Iran’s statements that it is under a cyber attack from western governments.





We will keep you updated on the details of the Stars virus and Iranian statements as they emerge.