A team of hackers supported by the Iranian government is believed to be behind the hacking of the French newspaper which took place at the beginning of last January.
Charlie Hebdo was then at odds with Tehran, because of its support for protesters in the country, and had published several caricatures of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Iranian government responded in particular by closing the French Research Institute in Iran.
Microsoft has identified the source of the hack
Who could have carried out the hacking of which was the victim Charlie Hebdo a month ago ? It was the question that many were asking, even if the answer already seemed obvious at the time. At the same time, Iran had indeed been enraged by caricatures of its most senior leader, Ali Khamenei.
This track has just been confirmed by cybersecurity specialists at Microsoft. According to the Redmond firm, it would be a team of Iranian hackers called “Holy Souls”. These hackers have already been, according to the United States Department of Justice, involved in operations intended to influence the 2020 US presidential elections.
The data of 200,000 subscribers in the wild
The operation is cause for concern, since this same group announced on an online forum to be in possession thanks to this intrusion of the names and contacts of more than 200,000 subscribers to the satirical newspaper. The hackers put them up for sale for 20 bitcoins (currently around $460,000). They have also already tried to leak them on Twitter through fake profiles.
” This information, obtained by the Iranian actor, could put the magazine’s subscribers at risk of online or physical targeting by extremist organizations Microsoft warned. For the moment, the Iranian and French authorities have not wanted to react to the news. Charlie Hebdo also declined to comment. For now “.
Source : Reuters
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