Threats and technology from Iran

Computerworld Blogs

Everyone in tech goes to trade shows and conferences, if only to mingle. Iran has them as well, and the country just wrapped up its security trade show.

This show drew users who appeared to have serious buying power. You can tell this from their uniform insignias.

Local notables attended as well. Among them, Iran’s police chief, Brig. Gen. Esmail Ahmadi-Moqadam. He talked about Stuxnet and how the U.S. can expect retaliation, according to translated remarks on Iran’s PressTV.

“Now it’s all about cyber-attacks, which only shows their desperation but Iran is doing just fine with cyber defense. It’s true that the U.S. made Stuxnet virus did some damage to our facilities but we were able to get them all up and running in no time. However, those who attack should expect retaliation and we haven’t gone there just yet.”

Iran has been getting blame recently for some attacks on financial services firms.

In a recent speech, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said “a cyber-attack perpetrated by nation states are violent extremists groups could be as destructive as the terrorist attack on 9/11. Such a destructive cyber-terrorist attack could virtually paralyze the nation. “

Panetta also said that Iran “has also undertaken a concerted effort to use cyberspace to its advantage.”

The video shows mostly physical security devices. Iranian press reports also said the products on display included, “a supercomputer for security assessment,” called Ara, and ‘Raya,’ and described as “the first domestic safe tablet.”

I've been following Iran's supercomputer developments for a number of years, and the reference to "Ara" is what drew me to this conference. But there's very little information about the latest high performance computing developments, and the video is focused on physical security devices. Nontheless, this video shows scenes that seem familiar and unfamiliar.