An alert issued by the telecom authority of Saudi Arabia warns of a new variant of the 2012 Shamoon malware that has attacked several Saudi organizations including the labor ministry and a chemicals firm, reports Reuters.

The 2012 virus, described by Former US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as perhaps the most destructive in a private business, had had a crippling effect on oil company Saudi Aramco.

State TV Al Ekhbariya tweeted that several organizations were hit by Shamoon 2, although reports claim data was not compromised in the labor ministry attack. According to sources, companies in the country’s petrochemicals hub were a target of the virus and they responded by shutting down their networks.

Shamoon overwrites the master book record and wipes computer disks.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has attributed the attack to hackers likely working on behalf of the Iranian government.

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