LOLITA C. BALDOR | AP ARABNEWS
Friday 12 October 2012

WASHINGTON: A former US government official says American authorities firmly believe that Iranian hackers, likely supported by the Tehran government, were responsible for recent cyberattacks against oil and gas companies in the Arabian Gulf and that they appeared to be in retaliation for the latest round of US sanctions against the country.

The former official spoke to The Associated Press shortly before Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in a speech to business leaders in New York City Thursday night, became the first US official to publicly acknowledge the computer-based assaults. He called them probably the most destructive cyberattacks the private sector has seen to date.

And while Panetta did not directly link Iran to the Gulf attacks, he made it clear that the US has developed advanced techniques to identify cyberattackers and is prepared to take action against them.

A US official said the Obama administration knows who launched the cyberattacks against the Gulf companies and that it was a government entity.

US agencies have been assisting in the Gulf investigation and concluded that the level of resources needed to conduct the attack showed there was some degree of involvement by a nation state, said the former official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is classified as secret.

“Potential aggressors should be aware that the United States has the capacity to locate them and hold them accountable for actions that harm America or its interests,” Panetta said in a speech to the Business Executives for National Security. He later noted that Iran has “undertaken a concerted effort to use cyberspace to its advantage.”
While Panetta chose his words carefully, one cybersecurity expert said the Pentagon chief’s message to Iran in the speech was evident.

read more here:

Note by the editor: So what? Who started the cyber war?