WASHINGTON- Cyber-attackers tried to trigger a deadly explosion at apetrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia in August and failed only because of acode glitch, The New York Times reported.
Investigators declined to identify the suspected attackers, but peopleinterviewed by the newspaper unanimously said it most likely aimed to causea blast that would have guaranteed casualties.
A bug in the attackers’ code accidentally shut down the system instead,according to the report.
The cyber-attack — which could signal plans for other attacks around theworld — was likely the work of hackers supported by a government,according to multiple insiders interviewed by the newspaper.
All sources declined to name the company operating the plant as well as thecountries suspected to have backed the hackers, The New York Times said.
Security experts, however, told the newspaper that Iran, China, Russia,Israel and the United States had the technical capacity to launch an attackof that magnitude.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia, which has come underfrequent cyber-attacks, including “Shamoon”, the aggressive disc-wipingmalware that hit the Saudi energy sector in 2012.