Cyber Attack: Virus Forces Iran’s Nuclear Program Computers To Play AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”
A cyber attack has sent malware that hacked computer systems in Iran, forcing them to play AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” at full volume in the middle of the night.
News of the attack came from Mikko Hypponen, a researcher at Finnish compute security firm F-Secure. In his blog Hypponen said that a scientist working for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran tipped him off to the attack.
“I am writing you to inform you that our nuclear program has once again been compromised and attacked by a new worm with exploits which have shut down our automation network at Natanz and another facility Fordo near Qom,” the email read.
The scientist reported that the virus came through a simple and cheap open-source project that finds vulnerabilities in software. It was not the first time that a well-known computer virus struck Iran, the International Business Times noted. In June officials there discovered that a virus had gone undetected for two years, one that Hypponen said was created and sent by U.S. officials.
That virus, known as Flame, was considered one of the most complex cyber attacks ever made. It started in Iran and infected computers throughout the Middle East. Even Hypponen, seen as one of the world’s foremost security experts, said his company was impotent against what he called the “James Bond of the malware world.”
Flame allowed its creators to search and upload documents from a remote computer, watching the user’s every move both online and literally–they could activate microphones or webcams at will. They could even copy address books from mobile phones within range of the computers, the International Business Times reported.
Details on the Iran cyber attack and its full effects were not fully given, other than the annoyance of hearing AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” playing all night.
