Hackers steal 50GB data, thousands of emails from Iranian nuclear facilities
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Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency has faced a data breach that reportedly leaked thousands of emails, but both the agency and the group apparently behind the attack have their own versions of events.
According to reports, the attackers hacked into an email server owned by one of the agency’s subsidiaries, opened 324 inboxes and stole more than 100,000 emails, representing about 50 GB of data.
According to a press release from the agency itself (roughly translated from Farsi), the threat actor is a foreign player, who has stolen and leaked data from its endpoints. (opens in new tab) in desperation and “to get the attention of the public”. Other than that, the infringement has no value.
Supporting the Mahsa Amini protests
On the other hand, the group behind the attack reached out via Telegram to the world of a domestic hacking group called Black Reward, which says it carried out the attack as an act of support to protesters in Iran.
Protests have raged in Iran for more than a month after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died after being arrested for not following the country’s strict dress code. The group has reportedly threatened to leak the data online unless the country’s authorities release political prisoners and other people arrested during the protests.
Contrary to the agency, which claims the data has no real value and mainly contains “technical messages and routine and current daily exchanges”, the group says the data “show management and operational schedules of various parts of the Bushehr plant.” contain. passports and visas of Iranian and Russian specialists working there, and “atomic development contracts and agreements with domestic and foreign partners”, The register found it.
To prove its point, the group began distributing the sensitive data, but advised those interested to access it only through a virtual machine, as the agency’s emails are marred with viruses and other malware.
Through: The register (opens in new tab)