Unknown hacker group claims responsibility for shutting down Saudi Aramco
Unknown computer hackers claim they forced the world’s largest oil company, Saudi Aramco, to quarantine its oil production systems from infected PCs inside the company last week. They threatened to attack the company again this Saturday.
The hackers said that on Aug. 15, they unleashed a malicious virus into Saudi Aramco, the Saudi government-owned oil company, in retribution for what they said was the government’s support for “oppressive measures” in the Middle East.
The hackers, who call themselves “Cutting Sword of Justice,” said the virus had destroyed some 30,000 — or three-quarters — of all of Saudi Aramco’s computers. That’s a remarkable claim, but to prove it, on Friday, they posted blocks of what they claimed were the infected I.P. addresses on Pastebin, a Web site often used by hackers to post data from cyberattacks. Saudi Aramco did not return a request seeking clarification.
