Iran has had to close one of its major oil facilities after it was shutdown by malware virus attacks, according to reports.
The BBC reports that Iran was forced to disconnect all oil processing facilities as a result. The Kharg Island facility processes more than 90% of Iran's exports, and was also apparently shut down.
However, the the attack on Sunday did not cause significant damage, according to Iran's Mehr News.
Ali Reza Nikzad-Rahbar, oil ministry spokesman, told Mehr News that important data of the ministry was not compromised, and that the ministry is well-place to defend against cyber attacks.
On Monday, Mehr News reported that a "cyber crisis management committee" was pulled together to deal with the attack.
Iran exports oil to Malaysia at a rate of 14,000 barrels a day and has just extended contracts in Asia and Africa.
“For the year 2012 all Iran’s contracts with Asian and African refiners for selling crude oil have been extended,” said Mohsen Qamsari, the national Iranian oil company director for international affairs told Mehr news.
Iran is thought to have been the target of a previous malware attack in January 2012. The Stuxnet "Trojan worm" was designed to attack industrial control systems produced by Siemen's AG, which could have included the Bushehr nuclear reactor.
Image: Anglo-Iranian oil refinery.