The head of the country’s passive defense organization said: “People had an effective knowledge of this incident  they immediately realized that it was finally an accident and an attack was carried out from outside and we will wait for a few hours for it to be corrected.”

Below shows the disarray, in fighting, and finger pointing within the regime as they scramble to save face.

According to Diar Mirza’s information base , quoted by the Radio and Television, Sardar Gholamreza Jalali in the program “Negah” of the One TV Network about the cyber attack on the country’s fuel distribution system added: “The comment in this regard is based on technical information and intelligence analysis.”

He said: “According to intelligence analysis, this attack was carried out by a foreign country and the Americans and the Zionists, but we are investigating in terms of technical information and we can not say for sure about the origin of the attack. Of course, part of the investigation has been concluded.” .

The head of the Passive Defense Organization stated that the attack took place in the middleware section, which is a very complex attack and it is difficult to clear it, adding: “This attack is similar to a cyber attack on the railway and Shahid Rajaei port, and in our opinion It was done by the Americans and the Zionists.

Sardar Jalali said: if the attack on the fuel distribution system took place in the hardware layer, there was a need for influence; That is, either the hardware company was involved in the attack or equipment had to be built and installed in the system.

He added: “The cyber attack on the billboards was also related to the attack on the fuel distribution system. Of course, the issue is being investigated in terms of technical connection, and we have not found any connection so far.”

The head of the passive defense organization said: “Internal factors may also be involved in this cyber attack, which the security apparatus is investigating.”

What is passive defense?

The purpose of establishing a passive defense organization is to reduce the potential for war damage as well as electronic warfare or sabotage of Iran’s sensitive civilian facilities. Currently, the commander of this institution is Gholamreza Jalali. The formation of passive defense began in 2003, and the formation of this organization practically meant the creation of infrastructure to prepare for possible wars in the civilian sector. Fighting cyber warfare has been declared one of the goals of the passive defense organization. This institution, which is represented in all important ministries and institutions, has not been able to prevent all cyber attacks on Iran’s important facilities and has been the target of widespread and destructive attacks many times in the last ten years.

Sardar Jalali added: in the first three hours after the attack on the fuel distribution system, 30% of the stations and 12 hours after the attack, 60% of the stations returned to offline service.

He said: “We scored a goal in this cyber-attack, but we did not lose the game, because the intelligent presence and change of the radio and television process in addressing these issues and carefully investigating and informing the people in a timely manner, the speed of action of technical groups and rapid return.” Fuel distribution stations serving the people and consciously dealing with this issue thwarted the enemies’ conspiracy to create chaos and crowds.

The head of the passive defense organization stated that threats, vulnerability, lazy management and lack of proper division of labor to manage the crisis are the causes of this type of cyber-attacks and added: In the previous government, look at the passive defense organization with political glasses and take it seriously They analyzed the threat.

Sardar Jalali added: “The previous government wanted the passive defense organization to be its subdivision that could order it, but we do not have a political view of any government in passive defense and the interests of the people are important to us.”

He said: “Continuing the operation of infrastructure is the red line of the passive defense organization, because it affects people’s lives.”

The head of the Passive Defense Organization stated: “We had prepared instructions for the previous Cyberspace Council to regulate the relations of the devices in the field of cyber warfare, but they said that the war belongs to the military and has nothing to do with us.”

Sardar Jalali said: “The passive defense organization in the previous government discovered and informed about the injuries and weaknesses, but they said to announce this information somewhere and they did not support us when we followed up.”

He added: “In the past, the passive defense organization had a budget to solve problems and weaknesses, and for example, some technical work in the radio and television was done with the passive defense organization’s budget, but in the previous government, the organization’s operating budget was zero and only We were paid.

The head of the passive defense organization said: “We raised this issue in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, but we could not solve it.”

Sardar Jalali added: “If the operational budget is not in the possession of the passive defense organization, this organization will only become a speech therapy complex.”

He said: “The fact that the Islamic Consultative Assembly did not consider an operational budget for us was due to the opposition of the previous government representative in the budget consolidation commission and the parliament told us that the government should have foreseen this in the bill, because the government representative can oppose.

The head of the Passive Defense Organization added: “We were not invited to the High Council of Cyberspace in the previous government, while the membership of the Non-Defense Organization in the High Council of Cyberspace was approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly and approved by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution. We informed the High Council of Cyberspace, but they did not notify the Secretariat and we could not attend the meetings of the High Council of Cyberspace.

Sardar Jalali said about the reason for the opposition of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace of the past to the presence of the passive defense organization in this council: “They only said we are against your presence.”

He added: “With the coming to power of the new government, the Supreme Council of Cyberspace has held two meetings, in which the passive defense organization has been present and has discussed issues to be resolved.”

Sardar Jalali added: “In the previous government, we did not reach an agreement with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on simple issues. They did not report information to us, did not allow us to interfere in the national communication network, and generally considered our work against them.”

He said: “Of course, in the previous government, we had a good cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and the governorates.”

The head of the Passive Defense Organization stated that in several countries, the field of infrastructure protection is created and taught. We will accept students in this field from the next semester.

Sardar Jalali said: “Infrastructure cyber war has started and we must take it seriously and correct our weaknesses and points of damage.”

The head of the Passive Defense Organization said that the phenomena in this field are completely new: “If we have a common understanding of the issue of cyber warfare, we can find a solution to it with cooperation.”

Sardar Jalali added: “We tested the system twice last year and this year in the fuel distribution system, and each time we found three weaknesses, one of which was the lack of systems and their obsolescence.”

He said: “We wrote this issue and announced it in writing, but no correction was made.”

The head of the passive defense organization added: “We have referred to the judiciary for support, but the judiciary said; There must be a law in this regard.

Sardar Jalali said: “We followed the discussion of the law in the last parliament, but it did not come to fruition, and in this parliament, too, considering that the plan came to the public court of the parliament, but it was removed from the agenda again and we were told there was a problem with regulations.” Is.

He added: “In that plan, it is predicted that leaving the act in the field of cyber warfare and eliminating the weakness of the infrastructure in this area is a crime.”

The head of the passive defense organization said: “Last year, we conducted 1,400 exercises and this year, 66 exercises to diagnose pathology and identify the weaknesses of the devices.”

Sardar Jalali added: “If we have an operational budget, we can provide financial assistance to the devices to correct the weaknesses.”

“The passive defense organization must have executive power, because if the government does not want to work with us, it can prevent us from doing our job by creating obstacles,” he said.

The head of the Passive Defense Organization added: “In cyberspace, actions have led to hostile behavior and cyber warfare.”

Sardar Jalali said: “Currently, 6 types of cyber warfare have been recognized in the world, including infrastructure cyber warfare, system cyber warfare and social network warfare.”

Stating that the first official cyber war was related to Stuxnet, he added: “The main approach of the Americans and the Zionists in this area is cyber offensive, and in 2016, the Americans created 123 cyber offensive units.”

The head of the passive defense organization said: the first passive defense medal will be awarded this week to the family of martyr Ali Landi, who has learned from the generation of martyrs.