Saudi oil secured against cyberattack

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- There was no disruption of oil production despite a cyberattack targeting state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co., an interior minister spokesman said.

Saudi Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, a spokesman for the Interior Minister, said he believed the attack on the oil company, known also as Saudi Aramco, came from a foreign country but production wasn't disrupted.

"The attack failed to reach its ultimate goal, which was to stop the flow of Saudi oil," he was quoted by Bloomberg News as saying.

Iran had been blamed by Washington for launching a denial-of-service attack against the Saudi oil industry and other Western interests. Saudi Aramco had reported that a computer virus entered the company's network through personal computers Aug. 15.

Abdullah al-Saadan, Saudi Aramco vice president for corporate planning, said oil production was secured against such attacks.

Any suggestion of Iranian involvement in the latest attack is circumstantial, Bloomberg adds.

Saudi Arabia last month produced about 9.7 million barrels of oil per day.