Iranian state goes offline to dodge cyber-attacks

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9453905/Iranian-state-goes-offline-to-dodge-cyber-attacks.html

By Robert Tait
The Telegraph
05 Aug 2012

Reza Taghipour, the country's telecommunications minister, said the step 
was being taken because sensitive intelligence was vulnerable on the 
worldwide web, which he said was untrustworthy because it was controlled 
by "one or two" countries hostile to Iran.

"The establishment of the national intelligence network will create a 
situation where the precious intelligence of the country won't be 
accessible to these powers," Mr Taghipour told a conference on Sunday at 
Tehran's Amir Kabir University.

He described the move as the first phase of a project to replace the 
global internet with a domestic intranet system scheduled to be 
completed within 18 months.

Opponents have previously denounced the plan as a means of stamping out 
western influence on the internet while further tightening already 
stringent online surveillance of political activists and regime critics.

[...]