Classified documents that are allegedly from Iran have revealed secret research into potential Western cyber attacks, while a separate report has found hackers posed as a glamourous Liverpool-based aerobics instructor in an attempt to gain access to a UK aerospace defense company.
According to the cache of internal documents obtained by Sky News, research was being undertaken into how a cyber attack could be used to sink a cargo ship and blow up a fuel pump at a petrol station.
The files also show research was being done into satellite communication devices employed by global shipping companies and smart-home-like technology that controls things such as lights, heating and ventilation in buildings worldwide.
Western countries, including the UK, France and the United States appear to be of particular interest in the papers that have allegedly been put together by an offensive cyber unit called Shahid Kaveh, according to Sky News' sources.
Shahid Kaveh is part of Iran's secretive elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) cyber command.
Citing someone with knowledge of the 57-page dossier, the news network said the work is proof of efforts by Iran to gather intelligence on civilian infrastructure that could be used to identify future targets open to cyber attacks.
The unnamed source told Sky News that they were 'very confident' the documents were authentic, with other sources adding that the documents 'looked credible and interesting,' according to the network's extensive report.
Five documents in total, the papers said they had been written by 'Intelligence Team 13.' Each is shown to begin with a quote by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
'The Islamic Republic of Iran must become among the world's most powerful in the area of cyber,' the quote reads.
According to the cache of internal documents obtained by Sky News , research was being undertaken into how a cyber attack could be used to sink a cargo ship and blow up a fuel pump at a petrol station
According to the cache of internal documents obtained by Sky News , research was being undertaken into how a cyber attack could be used to sink a cargo ship and blow up a fuel pump at a petrol station
Another file showed details and photos of automatic tank gauges that keep track of fuel flow at petrol stations
'They are creating a target bank to be used whenever they see fit,' the source was quoted as saying by Sky News. Intelligence Team 13 'are supposed to be rather clandestine. They work on offensive cyber operations globally,' he added.
However, the research included in the document appeared to be based on open sources and internet searches, rather than through gaining access to privelidged information on specific targets, according to Sky.
One of the documents appeared to show a diagram of a system designed to keep cargo skips balanced when they tilt in the water.
'These pumps are used to bring water into the tanks through centrifuges and in order to operate correctly, the task must be completed with precision. Any problems could result in the sinking of the ship,' the document said.
'Any kind of disruptive influence can cause disorder within these systems and can cause significant and irreparable damage to the vessel.'
One of the documents appeared to show a diagram of a system designed to keep cargo skips balanced when they tilt in the water
'Any kind of disruptive influence can cause disorder within these systems and can cause significant and irreparable damage to the vessel,' the document said
Another file showed details and photos of automatic tank gauges that keep track of fuel flow at petrol stations.
'[An] explosion of these fueling pumps is possible if these systems are hacked and controlled remotely,' it said. It also noted that that an attack could cut fuel supply.
In another document, satellite communication devices
