Due to some kind of “software collapse” (which experts consider to be a cyberattack), gas stations across Iran were disrupted this week. In addition, screens at petrol terminals and billboards with gas prices stopped working.
The incident affected the network of the state-owned gas distribution company NIOPDC, which operates more than 3,500 gas stations across the country. According to local media reports, as well as numerous posts on social networks, as a result of the attack, the message “cyebrattack 64411” was displayed on the screens of NIOPDC gas stations.Price billboards in major cities also showed the message “cyebrattack 64411” as well as the phrase “Khamenei, where’s the gas?” and “Free petrol at [name of local gas station].”
It is worth noting that 64411 is a telephone number belonging to the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
This number has already been used during another hacker attack this summer, when attackers targeted the country’s railway system and offered the victims to call this number.
Although the gas stations themselves were operational after the attack, and could be used to refuel cars, NIOPDC employees halted operations when it became clear that the company could not track the filling and charge customers for fuel.
Despite a lot of evidence of what happened, published on social networks, the authorities of the country do not recognize the fact of the hack and said that it was not a cyberattack, but a “software failure.”
Local media reports that all gas stations are now operating as usual.
Let me remind you that we also wrote that Iranian low-skilled hackers are quite successful in “playing” with Dharma ransomware.
