An image from Symantec showing locations targeted by the Stuxnet worm
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — According to a Reuters report published Tuesday, the government of Iran has moved most of its government websites away from hosting providers based in other countries, and into new facilities located inside Iran, in an effort to protect those sites against attack.
Quoting the country’s deputy minister for communications and information technology, Ali Hakim Javadi, Reuters reports that more than 90 percent of all the Iranian government’s websites have had their hosting locations transferred inside the country.
The move comes about a year after the country came under fire from the Stuxnet virus, which appeared specifically designed to attack computers within the Bushehr nuclear reactor facility, in Iran.
Reuters reports the deputy minister says that more than 30,000 websites belonging to Iranian ministries and other governmental bodies had until very recently been housed at hosting companies in North America and in other locations outside Iran, which could have led to data being exposed to danger “at any moment.”
The incredibly high number suggests that either Javadi was referencing the total page count of the websites being moved into the country, or that some massive inefficiency in the Iranian government has the country operating 30,000 websites.
The Reuters story quotes an anonymous computer expert, who made the fairly obvious observation that the physical location of the websites wouldn’t have a tremendous impact on their vulnerability to cyber attacks, assuming they remain connected to the Internet.
Iran has suggested that the targeted attack via Stuxnet was orchestrated by Israel and the United States. Suggestions have been made by western politicians that Iran’s nuclear program is a disguised attempt to build nuclear weapons.
The full extent of the damage caused by Stuxnet is not widely known.
Iran has since claimed that it has been targeted by worms and other threats with similar intent to Stuxnet.
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
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