No, the long-prophesied hard rock apocalypse isn’t upon is, nor have the band taken to extreme new methods to advertise their next album. In an incident that proves that the universe does have a sense of humour, a computer virus has caused several problems at Natanz and Fordo Nuclear programs in Iran – including computers being forced to play AC/DC‘s ‘Thunderstruck’ at full volume.
For the remainder of this article, I recommend you play the song at full volume, and imagine scientists in white coats frantically running about as they attempt to turn it off. Perhaps the workers begin joining hands in cries of ‘thunder!’, eventually leading to the dismantling of the facility, and a step closer to world peace.
Understandably, the emails which announced the incident were first thought to be a hoax, but research has shown that they did indeed come from within Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, who are presumably cradling their faces in their palms as we speak.
“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”, read one email to Mikko Hypponen, a chief security officer.
“There was also some music playing randomly on several of the workstations during the middle of the night with the volume maxed out. I believe it was playing ‘Thunderstruck’ by AC/DC.”
-Quote of the year.
While I’m sure Iran should be busy re-thinking their security, those of us who aren’t having our security breached should either be thanking the stars that the hacker didn’t have malicious intent, or laughing along to the obscurity of the situation.
Either way, the US and Israel can probably put a few of their fears at bay – or at least start arming themselves with sophisticated hard rock missiles. May I recommend a bit of Led Zeppelin next time?
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