Iran's nuclear programme has been hit with a new cyber virus that shut down key computerized functions at two facilities and played music by the rock band AC/DC at loud volumes, the internet security website F-Secure reported on July 25.
The website said it was informed of the cyber attack by a scientist working at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) who sent F-Secure an email detailing the breach, dpa reported.
F-Secure said that it could not confirm any details of the cyber attack apart from the fact that the researcher was indeed sending and receiving emails from within AEOI.
"I am writing you to inform you that our nuclear programme 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," the researcher wrote.
"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 VPN. 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.
"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."
Iran's nuclear programme has been a frequent target of cyber attacks, which the country's leaders have blamed on Israel and the United States.
The Stuxnet virus, which was revealed in 2010, reportedly destroyed thousands of centrifuges at a uranium enrichment facility, while the Flame virus, discovered in May, was a sophisticated spy tool implanted on the computers of government officials.