Thunderstruck! A tale of malware, AC/DC, and Iran's nukes

Should they be worried?

(Credit: CBS NEWS.com Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

The next big war will apparently be bug-based.

Perhaps some people are putting a lot of practice in.

For this morning reports are emerging that the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has been subjected to a particularly malicious form of malware. Yes, the kind of malware that plays AC/DC.

And worse, not merely any old AC/DC, but specifically "Thunderstruck."

I am grateful to Venture Beat for warning me of this possibility.

Conjecture began when an Iranian scientist was said to have e-mailed F-Secure's chief research officer, Mikko Hypponen, with a cry for help. Or, who knows, political asylum.

The malware was, allegedly, similar to the great and destructive Stuxnet, which, together with Flame, has already been used to greet Iran's nuclear program.

Some will be fascinated that such attacks may be being employed with increasing frequency. Some will marvel at the way the malware can spy on all sorts of activity once it has been, as they say, unpacked.

I am more moved by the choice of music that allegedly blared in t... [Read more]