A cyberattack has disrupted operations at four major Iranian banks, local media reported, adding that sensitive customer data remains safe. Citing state media reports, news agency Reuters said that Iran’s banking coordination council announced on Sunday that a hacking incident successfully targeted a shared communications system used by the financial institutions.
The disruption temporarily knocked out several banking services for customers across the country. The hit list included some of Iran's most prominent financial institutions, including Bank Melli, Bank Tejarat, Bank Saderat and The Export Development Bank of Iran.
According to a post by London-based publication Iran International English, the technical team detected unusual signs and took necessary measures to isolate the attack. A limited cyberattack on shared communications infrastructure caused disruptions at four Iranian banks, the coordination council of banks said on Sunday.
The council said the disruption affected Bank Melli Iran, Bank Tejarat, Bank Saderat Iran and the Export Development Bank of Iran. It said technical teams took protective measures after detecting unusual signs, adding that there had been no unauthorized access to customer data and no deletion of information.
US-Iran ‘digital war’
Earlier this year, the Trump administration issued a warning, saying that hackers backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had begun a series of cyberattacks on water and energy systems across the US. It was issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which did not name specific American facilities that had been struck or say whether any damage had been done.
According to a report by The New York Times, CISA said that the attacks were focusing on equipment made by a major American producer of computer controllers, in an effort to make government agencies and utilities lock down their systems before the Iranian hackers can disrupt more systems.
