Hackers Breach Iranian Atomic Energy Network

Iran’s Nuclear Power Production and Development company has been hacked, and it seems those responsible are Iranian and not foreign players.

Reuters reported state media as saying on Sunday that Iran’s atomic energy organisation had been compromised, and an email server belonging to one of its subsidiaries had been hacked from a foreign country and information published online.

Meanwhile an Iranian hacking group, Black Reward, in a tweet on Saturday claimed responsibility and said it had released the hacked information relating to Iranian nuclear activities as an act of support for ongoing protesters in Iran.

Protest hack

According to Reuters, the Black Reward statement ended with the words “In the name of Mahsa Amini and for women, life, freedom”.

Mahsa Amini was died last month whilst in the custody of Iran’s morality police. Eyewitnesses said that Amini had been severely beaten, which Iranian officials have denied. They allege she died of a heart attack.

Amini’s death has triggered a wave of protests across Iran, with some female demonstrators removing their hijab or publicly cutting their hair as acts of protest. It is reported that so far 201 have been killed by security forces.

Amnesty International alleged that Iranian security forces were, in some cases, firing into groups with live ammunition, and in other cases were killing protesters by beating them with batons.

Returning to the hack of Iran’s atomic agency, the Black Reward hackers said the information they had released included “management and operational schedules of different parts of Bushehr power plant”, passports and visas of Iranian and Russian specialists working there, and “atomic development contracts and agreements with domestic and foreign partners.”

Reuters reported that the public diplomacy and information department of Iran’s atomic energy organisation played down the significance of the released information, saying “this move was made with the aim of attracting public attention.”

“It should be noted that the content in users’ emails contains technical messages and routine and current everyday exchanges,” state media reported.

Prisoner demand

Black Reward said it had threatened to release hacked information in 24 hours unless the authorities released all political prisoners and people arrested during the unrest.

It claimed to have stolen 50GB of data.

The hacktivists also reportedly stated that “unlike Westerners, we do not flirt with criminal clerics, and if we promise something, we fulfil it 100 percent.”