Iran’s telecommunications minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said the attack had targeted Iranian electronic government systems and was “aimed at spying on government intelligence.” The minister made the announcement on his Twitter account on Sunday morning. He claimed servers and hackers had been “tracked” and that the Dejfa fortress had managed to thwart the attack which had used the “well-known APT27”. He added the attack was “identified and defused by a cybersecurity shield”.
Experts have previously linked APT27 to Chinese-speaking hackers, according to the BBC.
Mr Jahromi told Iran’s official IRNA news agency on Wednesday that a “massive” and “governmental” cyber attack had targeted Iran’s electronic infrastructure.
He did not provide details but said a report would be released.
On Tuesday, the telecommunications minister dismissed reports of hacking operations targeting Iranian banks.
Local Iranian media had reported the accounts of millions of clients of Iranian banks were hacked.
In June, it was reported the US military had launched a cyber attack against Iranian military computer systems.
The Washington Post said the US attack disabled computer systems controlling rocket and missile launchers.
The US Defence Department had declined to comment on the June attack at the time.
READ MORE: Rocket attacks on US targets spark fresh fears of Middle East conflict
He said: “They try hard, but have not carried out a successful attack.
“The media asked if the claimed cyber attacks against Iran are true.
“Last year we neutralised 33 million attacks with the (national) firewall.”
Relations between the two countries have been teetering on the edge of calamity for months, as President Donald Trump continuously ramps up aggressive rhetoric and Tehran retaliates.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iran will face a “decisive” response if American troops are harmed in Iraq.
Mr Pompeo issued the threat after a series of rocket attacks on US military believed to have been carried out by militia groups with close links to the Islamic Republic’s regime.
The Secretary of State, who has repeatedly warned Tehran, blamed the latest attacks squarely on “Iran’s proxies”.
A report released last month revealed that Iran now has the edge in the Middle East after developing a sophisticated network of proxies, and cyber operations.
The report published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies suggested Iran has the ability to conduct “remote warfare” throughout the region.