Destructive Cyber Attack On Saudi Kingdom

State-sponsored hackers have conducted a "series of destructive attacks" on Saudi Arabia, erasing data and wreaking havoc at the agency running the country’s airports, and hitting five additional targets. 

According to a report, "thousands of computers were destroyed at the headquarters of Saudi’s General Authority of Civil Aviation, erasing critical data and bringing operations there to a halt for several days". This it was claimed was a false-flag operation by a foreign country aiming to escalate tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia

Several US Internet security companies later suggested the attacks were carried out by hackers using a virus called "Shamoon", which has been linked to the Iranian government. 

Two theories may explain the attacks 

First, they may signify a false-flag operation by a foreign country aiming to escalate tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia and, by association, the United States. One cannot discount the possibility of Israel’s involvement because Israel would largely benefit from the incident’s aftermath.

A director at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington maintained that "anyone who did this attack knows it has implications for the nuclear deal - between Iran and the world powers". 

Other states in play

Meanwhile, it is important to remember that Israel has a history of hacking operations. In 2010, the Israelis together with the Americans collaborated in an attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment plant using the Stuxnet virus.

Second, according to early reports from a Saudi probe - which obviously can be biased - "digital evidence" suggests the attacks emanated from Iran.

Rogue radical elements in the Iranian government could have intentionally acted to create a foreign policy crisis for the Rouhani administration but, Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, seeks de-escalation in the international relations arena. He relies on the benefits of sanctions relief but requires a peaceful environment to bring Iran out of international economic obscurity, attract foreign investment and end the severe economic recession engulfing the country. 

The actualisation of the Iran nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers, the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), strengthened Rouhani’s and the moderate current’s position as a whole in Iran.

The Shamoon virus was the same that devastated Saudi oil company Aramco in 2012. According to the report, Shamoon "overwrites files and renders the infected computers inoperable by destroying the master boot record". It spreads quickly "throughout a network, causing destruction like the digital version of a wildfire".

A secret document from April 2013, written by the US National Security Agency and revealed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, pointed the finger directly at Iran.

It said: "Iran’s destructive cyber-attack against Saudi Aramco in August 2012, during which data was destroyed on tens of thousands of computers, was the first such attack NSA has observed from this adversary.

It spreads quickly "throughout a network, causing destruction like the digital version of a wildfire"

"Iran, having been a victim of a similar cyber-attack against its own oil industry in April 2012, has demonstrated a clear ability to learn from the capabilities and actions of others." In the past, there have been other suspicious incidents aimed at sabotaging Iran’s foreign relations.

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