Iran Nuclear Agency Not "Thunderstruck" By Virus

twoheadedboy writes "Iran may have been hit hard by Stuxnet, but officials have said that reports of a virus infecting its nuclear facilities and forcing computers to play the AC/DC classic 'Thunderstruck' were rubbish. Last month, F-Secure's chief research officer, Mikko Hypponen, was sent an email that appeared to be from a scientist working at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), claiming nuclear systems had been targeted by cyber attackers. Whilst the chief of the AEOI has come out to deny those claims, the sender of that email still managed to get hold of an official aeoi.org.ir email address. That has left some onlookers baffled about what is going on."

Comments

One or both lied?

[Attila Dimedici]

Why would anyone be "baffled" by what is going on? It is not like it would be unprecedented for the chief of a government agency to outright lie about something like this. On the other hand it would not be unprecedented for the "leaker" to turn out to be lying either.

Re:One or both lied?

[radtea]

It is not like it would be unprecedented for the chief of a government agency to outright lie about something like this.

Much like US and Israeli intelligence agencies are lying about the threat of an Iranian bomb, which the Iranians have no intention of building.

Why do I find this claim plausible? Because the Israelis in particular have been claiming that Iran has been trying to build a bomb for over 20 years, and Iran does not yet have the bomb. That would put the Iranians in Sidney Opera House territory in terms of how late their project is.

Building nuclear weapons is easy. It only took four years the very first time to design and build both uranium and plutonium bombs from scratch, and it was done by people whose resources were fantastically limited compared to even a moderately wealthy state like modern Iran. Iran has a per capita GDP of about $3600, which is about half of the US at the bottom of the Great Depression and 1/3 of what it was in the early '40's, and what can be bought for those dollars is light-years ahead of what could be had in 1942, so there are no significant economic or technological constraints on Iran today compared to the US 70 years ago.

But Iran doesn't have a bomb? Why not?

Iranians aren't stupid or uneducated or technologically backward. Why would it take them more than a few years to replicate a relatively simple piece of technology?

The most plausible explanation to my mind is that they are not working on building one. If they were, they would have it by now.

It is perfectly reasonable for an oil-producing country to create a significant civil nuclear program, as the example of Canada shows, so the fact that Iran has oil in no way implies that they don't need nuclear power.

None of this makes much sense, unless Iran is not working on building a bomb.

you know... i wish this HAD happened..

[wierd_w]

Seriousy, how many billions of dollars would isreal and the US owe AC/DC and I think capitol records for unauthorized distribution and exhibition?

So...

[wbr1]

...The NSA says Hells Bells, Iran is Back in Black, and not Thunderstruck. We just need Big Balls to do more Dirty Deeds. Then we can Shoot to Thrill with T.N.T and Shake Them All Night Long!

I can send mail from aeoi.org.ir

[amorsen]

still managed to get hold of an official aeoi.org.ir email address

That is not particularly difficult. Anyone can send mail under any email address they want.

There is of course SPF and DomainKeys, but aeoi.org.ir does not resolve for me at all (not even an NS record) so those do not apply.

It was much worse

[ArhcAngel]

It wasn't Thunderstruck as first reported but actually Justin Beiber's Baby Baby. Several technicians took their own lives before the speakers could be silenced.