Iranian nuclear facilities are hit by AC/DC virus

By Olga Khazan

Two of Iran’s uranium-enrichment plants were struck by a cyberattack earlier this week that shut down computers and blared AC/DC songs, according to reports from Bloomberg News and others.

The virus closed down the automation network at the Natanz and Fordow facilities, according to an e-mail received by F-Secure, a Finnish cybersecurity Web site, from Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

“According to the email our cyber experts sent to our teams, they believe a hacker tool Metasploit was used. The hackers had access to our [virtual private network]. The automation network and Siemens hardware were attacked and shut down. I only know very little about these cyber issues as I am scientist not a computer expert,” the Iranian scientist wrote.

After shutting down the network, the attackers played the song “Thunderstruck” by the hard rock band AC/DC at maximum volume.

Iran has been subject to past attacks intended primarily to hamper its uranium-enrichment program, which Western powers and the International Atomic Energy Agency say it is not authorized to develop.

Last month, The Washington Post reported that the United States and Israel jointly developed the Flame virus, which secretly mapped and monitored Iran’s computer networks.

“The effort, involving the National Security Agency, the CIA and Israel’s military, has included the use of destructive software such as the Stuxnet virus to cause malfunctions in Iran’s nuclear-enrichment equipment,” the reporters wrote.

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