Channels

Photo: Shutterstock
Illustration
Photo: Shutterstock

Report: Musical cyber attack strikes Iranian nuclear reactors

Iran's Natanz and Fordo facilities have been hit by virus that plays AC/DC song, shuts down computer systems, according to e-mail believed to have been sent by Iranian scientist

Iranian nuclear facilities have been struck by a musical cyber virus, according to an e-mail believed to have been sent by an Iranian scientist to a Finnish digital security firm.

 

Mikko Hypponen, a chief researcher at the F-Secure firm, posted the e-mail on the company's blog. According to the message, the Natanz and Fordo nuclear facilities have been hit with the virus, which plays the heavy metal song "Thunderstruck," by AC/DC.

 

Related stories

 

Other than playing songs, the malware has shut down computer systems and disabled Siemens hardware.

 

According to Hypponen, the e-mail was sent by "a scientist working at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI)."

 


המכתב שהתקבל

Iranian letter in F-secure blog

 

Though unsure as to the accuracy of the virus details, Hypponen can confirm that the email was indeed sent from an Iranian facility server.

 

And Another Virus

The alleged musical assault on the nuclear reactors comes on the heels of two other cyber attacks: the Flame Virus, discovered in May 2012 and Stuxnet, which is estimated to have hit approximately 1,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment, managed by a Siemens software. As far as the Stuxnet is concerned, Siemens seemed to have found a solution. On Monday, Siemens issued software security updates that are supposed to fix the loopholes that allowed the Stuxnet worm to penetrate nuclear facilities and hold back the Iranian nuclear program by two years, according to estimates.

 

Siemens stated that its software updates address the loopholes discovered in 2010, the year in which the Stuxnet worm was discovered.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.25.12, 23:24
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment