Iran denies damage to nuke plant computers from Stuxnet cyber worm attack

Tehran, Sep 28 (ANI): Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has denied reports that a cyber worm had damaged computer systems at the country's nuclear power plant.

The Iranian government agency that runs the country's nuclear facilities had reported earlier that its engineers are trying to protect their facilities from a sophisticated computer worm that has infected industrial plants across Iran.

According to The New York Times, the announcement raised suspicions, and new questions, about the origins and target of the worm, Stuxnet, which computer experts say is a far cry from common computer malware that has affected the Internet for years.

Stuxnet, which was first publicly identified several months ago, is aimed solely at industrial equipment made by Siemens that controls oil pipelines, electric utilities, nuclear facilities and other large industrial sites.

The reports were part of the "soft war" and a "propaganda stratagem" against Iran, Mehmanparast told reporters on Tuesday.

"The Busheher plant is pursuing its activities based on a set timetable," Xinhua quoted Mehmanparast, as saying.

The new soft war is aimed at targeting the Islamic Republic's peaceful nuclear program, he added.

Mahmoud Jafari, an Iranian nuclear official told the official IRNA News agency on Sunday that the Stuxnet computer worm had hit the personal computers of the staff at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant. (ANI)