Hackers breach Iran rail network, disrupt service

DUBAI (Reuters) – Train services in Iran were delayed by apparent cyberattacks on Friday, with hackers posting the phone number of the country’s supreme leader as the number to call for information, state-affiliated news outlets reported.

Trains were delayed or cancelled as ticket offices, the national railway’s website and cargo services were disrupted, with “unprecedented chaos at railway stations across the country”, the state broadcaster IRIB reported.

A notice on electronic boards at stations asked travellers to call a number which in fact belonged to the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, IRIB and the semi-official news agency Fars said.

“Long delays due to cyberattacks,” said another notice on station boards, Fars added.

IRIB later quoted a state railway company spokesman as saying technicians were checking the disruptions and denying that there were major delays.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Chris Reese)