In 2010, Iran's nuclear facilities were infiltrated by Stuxnet, the centrifuge-wrecking malware allegedly cooked up by the US government. Now they seem to have been hit again by a bizarre attack forcing nuclear plant workstations to pump the song Thunderstruck by heavy metal band AC/DC through the speakers at full volume.
News of the attack comes from Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at Finnish computer security firm F-Secure, who says he recently received a series of emails from a scientist working at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI):
"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 Iranian scientist goes on to say that they believe
the attackers used Metasploit, a common hacking tool which provides a
variety of ways to penetrate supposedly secure networks. "There was also
some music playing randomly on several of the workstations during the
middle of the night with the volume maxed out," says the scientist. "I
believe it was playing 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC."
While the US military has used heavy metal music as a weapon
in the past it seems unlikely that a Stuxnet-like stealth attack would
announce its presence with a few blasting power chords, suggesting the
hit is more likely the work of a thrill-seeking hacker. Hypponen says he
has been unable to verify any details of the attack, but has confirmed
that the emails were sent and received from within the AEOI.
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