Iran planning civil defence drills Wednesday

Deputy Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) for Nuclear Security and Safeguards Asqar Zare’an announced that the country plans to hold civil defense drills in Isfahan nuclear zone on Wednesday.
"The drills will be aimed at preparing for possible threats and sabotage attempts by foreign elements," Zare'an said.
He said the exercises are also aimed at boosting the civilians' preparedness against unprecedented events.
In October 2013, Head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali announced that Iran plans to stage five civil defense exercises in the near future.
“In the civil defense week (October 26-November 1) five specialized exercises will be staged to test the readiness of emergency electricity generators, cyber preparedness for infrastructures, biological defense, ports and coasts, and modern threats in metro stations,” Brigadier General Jalali said.
He further pointed out that some of the drills were also staged last year.
“As regards the drills to test the preparedness of electricity generators, last year we suddenly cut the power of Natanz nuclear site, the telecommunication (center of the country) and Jamaran site to see the level of their preparedness,” he said.
In January 2013, Iran's mission at the United Nations criticized the US for its involvement in cyber attacks against Tehran, and stressed that Iran respects international laws and regulations against the use of malwares against other nationsˈ economic sectors. In a statement issued at the time, the mission said Iran condemns any use of malware that target important institutes by violating the national sovereignty of states.
"Unlike the United States, which has, per reports in the media, given itself the license to engage in illegal cyber-warfare against Iran, Iran respects the international law and refrains from targeting other nations' economic or financial institutions," the statement read.
It also rejected claims that Iran has allegedly orchestrated cyber attacks on the US financial institutions, and said, "We believe that raising such groundless accusations are aimed at sullying Iran's image and fabricating pretexts to push ahead with and step up illegal actions against the Iranian nation and government."
In December 2012, Iran announced that it has thwarted a second cyber attack on one of its Culture Ministry institutes.
The cyber attack, originated from the US city of Dallas via switches in Malaysia and Vietnam, had targeted the information center of the Culture Ministry's Headquarters for Supporting and Protecting Works of Art and Culture.
The attack was repelled by the headquartersˈ experts.
In the last few years, various Iranian industrial, nuclear and government bodies have come under growing cyber attacks, widely believed to be designed and staged by the US and Israel.
In April 2012, a similar attack was carried out against Iran's oil ministry. According to the oil ministry, the cyber attack was carried out through a virus penetration that damaged usersˈ hard disks, but failed. Senior Iranian oil ministry officials later announced that their computer systems resumed normal operation.
A few days later hackers failed to penetrate into the Iranian Science Ministry's computer network.
"Despite the frequent efforts made by hackers, the cyber attack has failed to leave any impact on the data system," a statement released by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology said.
It further praised the proper measures and full preparedness of the relevant departments at the science ministry for repelling the attack.
Wide-scale cyber attacks on Iranian facilities started in 2010 after the US and Israel tried to disrupt the operation of Iran's nuclear facilities through a worm which later came to be known as Stuxnet.
US intelligence officials revealed in April 2012 that the Stuxnet malware was not only designed to disrupt Iran's nuclear program, but was part of a wider campaign directed from Israel that included the assassination of the country's nuclear scientists.
Stuxnet is the first discovered worm that spies on and reprograms industrial systems. It is specifically written to attack SCADA systems which are used to control and monitor industrial processes.
In September 2013, the Islamic Republic said that the computer worm of Stuxnet infected 30,000 IP addresses in Iran, but it denied the reports that the cyber worm had damaged computer systems at the country's nuclear power plants.
Iranian top security officials have urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to detect the agents involved in Stuxnet computer worm attack on Iran.
In April 2012, Iran announced that it has discovered the Stars virus that is being used as a tool to commit espionage.
That was the second cyber attack waged by enemies of Iran to undermine the country's nuclear as well as economic and industrial activities.
Security software manufacturer Symantec said parts of the Duqu code base are nearly identical to the infamous Stuxnet worm, ˈbut with a completely different purpose.ˈ
Iran announced in November 2011 that it had developed a software program that can control the Duqu spyware.
After wide-scale cyber attacks on Iranian facilities, including its nuclear sites, last year, Iranian officials started planning a proper and well-concerted line of defense against virus attacks.
In March 2012, the Islamic Republic of Iran announced plans to strengthen its cyber power by establishing a Supreme Council of Cyberspace to defend the country against cyber attacks.
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei tasked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with the duty of establishing a Supreme Council of Cyberspace.