Iran hosts local websites to avoid cyber attacks

Iran's deputy minister for communications and information technology said Wednesday that the Islamic republic has transferred the locations of most of its government websites from foreign-based hosting agencies to new computer facilities inside the country to avert potential cyber attacks, the English-language satellite Press TV reported. Ali Hakim Javadi was quoted as saying that Iran has moved more than 90 percent of its governmental internet websites from overseas hosting companies to new locations inside the country, adding that the move was "essential to protect governmental data on internet networks." Non-governmental sectors should also transfer their website from abroad into the country to further improve the nation's information security, Javadi added. Earlier, more than 30,000 Iranian websites of key organizations, namely ministries, had been hosted by foreign-based companies, mainly in North America, the data of which could have been exposed to danger at any moment, he was quoted as saying. In November, Iranian Energy Minister Majid Namjou said that Iran should be prepared to counter any possible cyber attack. The enemies were making every effort to create disruption in software and hardware systems of Iran's governmental centers, Namjou said, adding that under these circumstances, all the ministries should be vigilant and fully prepared to counter possible cyber attacks. Recent tensions between Iran and the West over Iran's controversial nuclear program has faced the Islamic republic with a number of challenges that the country struggles to develop mechanisms to walk out. Iran announced in May that general outlines for the cyber command had been prepared and examined by the Supreme National Security Council as well as senior officials of the armed forces. In October, Head of Iran's Passive Defense Organization Brigadier General Gholam-Reza Jalali said that Iran would establish the country's first cyber command which would be tasked with monitoring, identifying and countering cyber threats against the national infrastructure. In August, Jalali said that Iran planned to hold a massive "cyber security maneuver" to enhance readiness against possible cyber attacks against the country and to assess the ability of its organizations and departments to prevent cyber intrusions. Iran's Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi announced in October 2010 that Iran had detected and thwarted the virus aimed at infecting the country's nuclear plant system. Iran said that the computer worm, Stuxnet, infected 30,000 IP addresses in the country, including the personal computers of the staff at the Bushehr nuclear power plant. It also claimed that Israel and the conglomerate Siemens were behind the infection of Iranian industrial sites. To localize internet services, Iran's ministry of Communications and Information Technology announced in summer that in an effort to provide Iranians with higher-bandwidth internet access, Iran is set to test its national internet with the help of a limited number of users. Also known as the "Clean Web", the initiative seeks protection against the loose commitment to ethics and morality across the World Wide Web. According to local reports, Tehran has also undertaken a project to develop a national search engine dubbed "Ya Haq" by early 2012, which can be accessed through the domestic internet.