INVESTIGATORS suspect that Iran may be involved in an attempt to smear the West by hacking a British security company and faking a plot in which the firm was asked to deploy chemical weapons in Syria.
False emails created as part of the sophisticated cyberattack claimed the plot had been sanctioned by Washington and indicated a desire to frame Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president.
If Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, it would potentially trigger military retaliation by America and Britain.
The hacking of Britam Defence, a company run by former SAS chiefs with many Middle Eastern clients, is being investigated by cybercrime and counterterrorism specialists at Scotland Yard. The security services are also believed to be studying the breach.
Those familiar with the hack say it bears similarities to a cyberattack last year on Saudi Arabia’s biggest oil company, which US intelligence officials have blamed on Iran.
Source: Internet (Dipesh Gadher, The Times)
