Iran is prepared to defend itself in case of a ?cyber war? which could cause more harm than a physical confrontation, a commander in the country?s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday.
The Islamic Republic has tightened cyber security since its uranium enrichment centrifuges were hit in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer worm, which it believes came from Israel or the United States.
?We have armed ourselves with new tools, because a cyber war is more dangerous than a physical war,? said Abdollah Araqi, deputy commander of ground forces in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to the Iranian Students? News Agency (ISNA).
Israel has threatened to bomb Iran?s nuclear sites if diplomatic efforts fail to stop the nuclear work it believes is aimed at getting weapons capability, a charge Tehran denies.
Many analysts are sceptical that airstrikes could completely destroy Iran?s nuclear projects and that cyber attacks like Stuxnet might be more effective.
Iran detected a computer virus in April inside the control systems of Kharg Island ? which handles the vast majority of its crude oil exports ? but the terminal remained operational.
Tehran is working towards developing a national Internet, saying that would improve cyber security. But many Iranians believe the plan is the latest way to control their access to the web, already highly censored.
Iran denied on Sunday that its hackers attacked US banks, following a Reuters report that three of the largest American lenders were repeatedly targeted over the past year.
US: Cyber Attacks Warrant Military Retaliation, Unless We Launch Them
Via Micah Zenko, the?Washington Post?last week?reminded us?of official US policy regarding cyber-warfare:
Cyberattacks can amount to armed attacks triggering the right of self-defense and are subject to international laws of war, the State Department?s top lawyer said Tuesday.
Spelling out the U.S. government?s position on the rules governing cyberwarfare, Harold Koh, the department?s legal adviser, said a cyber-operation that results in death, injury or significant destruction would probably be seen as a use of force in violation of international law.
Unless, of course, America is the one who is waging the cyber-warfare. Followed logically, the State Department?s legal view here would mean that when the US attempted to destroy Iran?s centrifuges with a?cyber attack in the form of a virus called Stuxnet, Iran would have been within its legal rights to bomb the United States. But US legal views are not absolute; they depend on who wields power.
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Source: http://pakdefenceunit.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/cyber-attacks-greater-threat-than-actual-war-iran/
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