Iran nuclear facilities 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC malware

[dead0man]

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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."

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Even our Iranian apologists should find that funny.....nah, probably not.

[Senator Clarence]

HAhahahahaha........ now the Israelis are having fun while saving the world from Iranian nuclear terror...L Chayim!!!

[Platypus]

Well, that's Australia's contributional quota to nuclear disarmament met for this decade.

[opebo]

how's it supposed to be 'funny'?

[opebo]

Ok, now I see what's funny - I just listened to 'thunderstruck' by Ac/Dc, and I see what you mean - the poor taste of the attackers is very amusing.  What terrible music!

[Vosem]

how's it supposed to be 'funny'?

Because Iran is against the United States and Israel (and I can't see how you would like a government composed of religious extremists), so we enjoy seeing them humiliated.

[Communists For McCain]

This makes waterboarding sound pleasant.

[opebo]

how's it supposed to be 'funny'?

Because Iran is against the United States and Israel (and I can't see how you would like a government composed of religious extremists), so we enjoy seeing them humiliated.

I consider US government policy to be largely that of religious extremists, Vosem.  But what you're missing is that it is the US and Israel which are against Iran - the Iranians are only defending themselves, and have been doing so in heroic David vs Goliath fashion since '79. Your enjoyment of 'humiliations' in this context are disgusting - did you also enjoy the  humiliations the Germans inflicted upon others during the Nazi regime?

[Vosem]

how's it supposed to be 'funny'?

Because Iran is against the United States and Israel (and I can't see how you would like a government composed of religious extremists), so we enjoy seeing them humiliated.

I consider US government policy to be largely that of religious extremists, Vosem.  But what you're missing is that it is the US and Israel which are against Iran - the Iranians are only defending themselves, and have been doing so in heroic David vs Goliath fashion since '79.

This is very misguided. Iran was a country friendly to the US and Israel until the Revolution of '79, and one of the key factors involved in Ayatollah Khomeini's seizure of power was his stance against the US and Israel (which is no longer popular in Iran today). On the contrary, the present state of hostilities was started by Iran. Even if you consider US government policy to be the work of religious extremists (which, while wrong, is at least a somewhat defensible position), surely you realize Iran is much more extreme -- in Iran, clerics rule the country, whereas in the US, elected politicians of various stripes from various religions rule the country.

Your enjoyment of 'humiliations' in this context are disgusting - did you also enjoy the  humiliations the Germans inflicted upon others during the Nazi regime?

I wasn't alive then, but I would've enjoyed the humiliations against the Nazi regime (taking Berlin and so forth) towards the end, yes.

[Redalgo]

Meh, the use of humiliation against ones opponents is disgusting and dishonorable, and I am not yet convinced that any cyber-attacks against the Iranian nuclear program are justified.

[opebo]

You need a history lesson, Vosem:

This is very misguided. Iran was a country friendly to the US and Israel until the Revolution of '79,

No, the Iranian people were the victims of a brutal right-wing dictatorship installed by the US through coup d'etat.

and one of the key factors involved in Ayatollah Khomeini's seizure of power was his stance against the US and Israel

Precisely!  Because it the whole revolution was based on getting free of American domination, under the torturing and murdering US-installed Shah, Vosem.

[SPC]

Iran was a country friendly to the US and Israel until the Revolution of '79, and one of the key factors involved in Ayatollah Khomeini's seizure of power was his stance against the US and Israel (which is no longer popular in Iran today). On the contrary, the present state of hostilities was started by Iran.

If we're going to selectively ignore history before a certain date, why choose 1979, rather than say, 1953 or 1941 or 1988?

EDIT: Or, for that matter, why should we ignore history after a certain date, considering that 1986 and 2001 most certainly fall after 1979?