Computer virus attacks in iran nuclear program

Its Fordo enrichment site is also dug deep into a mountainside. Tehran also still operates the Tehran research reactor. The small stockpile of less-enriched uranium blocked Iran from having enough material to build a nuclear bomb if it chose. It spins advanced centrifuges, grows its stockpile and enriches up to percent purity — a technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.

President Joe Biden, who took office in January, has said he is willing to re-enter the nuclear deal. Countries began negotiations in Vienna last week seeking to find a way forward. Israel, which under Netanyahu has vowed not to see the deal revived, is suspected of recently stepping up a shadow campaign targeting Iran.

But it only marked the latest attack targeting the Iranian programme. Called Stuxnet, the virus attacked control units for its centrifuges, causing the sensitive devices to spin out of control and destroy themselves. For the first time, Iran admitted on Sunday that it had been on the receiving end of a new cyber attack by the Duqu computer virus that allegedly targeted computers of firms in the Islamic Republic.

Speaking with the official IRNA news agency, head of Iranian civil defense Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali said that Tehran had developed a software to thwart attacks by the Duqu virus, adding that the "software to control the [Duqu] virus has been developed and made available to organizations and corporations" in Iran.

The cyber defense unit works day and night to combat cyber attacks and spy [computer] virus," he added. Earlier this year, Iranian officials confirmed that another cyber attack, the Stuxnet virus, hit staff computers at the Bushehr nuclear plant but said it had not affected major systems. Reports have also surfaced that the computer worm was meant to sabotage the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz - where the centrifuge operational capacity has halved over the past year.

Security experts say the computer worm may have been a state-sponsored attack on Iran's nuclear program and may have originated in the United States or Israel. Last month, however, security software firm Symantec indicated that a new virus was alerted by a research lab with international connections to a malicious code that "appeared to be very similar to Stuxnet.