TEHRAN - Iranian Communication and Information Technology Minister Reza Taqipour has said that attempts to blow reports about the Stars computer worm out of proportion are part of the psychological warfare being waged against Iran.

Taqipour made the remarks during an interview with the Mehr News Agency on Wednesday in response to a question about a new computer worm named Stars, which reportedly targeted Iran in April.
However, he neither dismissed nor confirmed news reports saying that Iran has been targeted by the Stars worm.
Taqipour added that studies are underway in this regard at the Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center of the Communication and Information Technology Ministry.
“Various organizations have various firewalls, and it is possible that this malware was detected by the devices of these organizations,” he said.
On April 25, Director of Iran’s Passive Defense Organization Gholam-Reza Jalali announced that Iran has been targeted by a new computer worm named Stars.
Fortunately, Jalali stated, Iranian experts detected the computer worm and are investigating the malware.
But no final result has been achieved yet, he added.
“(However), certain characteristics about the Stars worm have been identified, including that it is compatible with the (targeted) system and that the damage is very slight in the initial stage, and it is likely to be mistaken for executable files of the government,” Jalali stated.
Therefore, Iranian experts should study various aspects of this worm so that the necessary actions can be taken to deal with it, he said.
Jalali did not give any details about what facilities the worm targeted or when experts first detected it.
On May 11, Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi said that the government establishments have been warned about the Stars computer worm.
The Stars can interrupt the computer systems of the state bodies, but the country will take the same measure like before, Moslehi stated.
In September 2010, international news agencies reported that the Stuxnet worm, which is capable of taking over power plants, had infected many industrial sites in Iran.
Later, Western officials and media outlets claimed that the cyber attack had hindered Iran’s nuclear program.
Iranian officials confirmed that some industrial systems had been targeted by a cyber attack, but insisted that no crashes or serious damage to the country’s industrial computer systems had been reported and said Iranian engineers had rooted out the problem.
Iran also dismissed the claim that the cyber attack had seriously affected its nuclear program.
On April 16, Jalali stated that the German engineering conglomerate Siemens should be held responsible for the infection of Iranian industrial sites by the Stuxnet computer worm.
At the time, Jalali also said that the U.S. and the Zionist regime were involved in the cyber attack against Iran.