Microsoft Identifies Iranian GovernmentBacked Group as Responsible for Charlie Hebdo Cyber Attack

In January 2023, the U.S. government sanctioned an Iranian nation-state group for the hack of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Microsoft, which revealed the details of the incident, is tracking the activity cluster under the name NEPTUNIUM, which is an Iran-based company known as Emennet Pasargad. The FBI had previously linked the state-backed cyber unit to a campaign to interfere with the 2020 presidential elections. Two Iranian nationals were accused of their involvement in the disinformation and threat campaign. Microsoft's disclosure came after a Hacktivist group called Holy Souls claimed to have the personal information of over 200,000 Charlie Hebdo customers, including their full names, phone numbers, and home and email addresses. It is believed that the breach was done in retaliation for the magazine's cartoon contest that mocked Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Microsoft's Digital Threat Analysis Center said that the leak was amplified by a coordinated effort across multiple social media platforms. This amplification effort used tactics, techniques, and procedures that the DTAC had seen before in Iranian hack-and-leak influence operations. The FBI believes that the goal of these campaigns is to damage the victims' networks and data, as well as embarrass companies and countries. These hack-and-leak campaigns involve a combination of hacking and information operations that can lead to financial losses and reputational damage.

This Cyber News was published on thehackernews.com. Publication date: Mon, 06 Feb 2023 12:45:03 +0000


Cyber News related to Microsoft Identifies Iranian GovernmentBacked Group as Responsible for Charlie Hebdo Cyber Attack

Microsoft Claims Iranian Group Responsible for Hacking and Releasing Information from Charlie Hebdo - Following the launch of a cartoon contest by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to mock Iran's ruling cleric, a state-backed Iranian cyber unit retaliated with a hack-and-leak campaign. This was done in an attempt to create fear by claiming ...
1 year ago Securityweek.com
Iranian Hackers Responsible for Infiltrating Charlie Hebdos Data - The Holy Souls or NEPTUNIUM threat group is believed to be behind the recent attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. This group is known to be supported by the Iranian government and has been sanctioned by the US government in the ...
1 year ago Heimdalsecurity.com
Microsoft Identifies Iranian GovernmentBacked Group as Responsible for Charlie Hebdo Cyber Attack - In January 2023, the U.S. government sanctioned an Iranian nation-state group for the hack of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Microsoft, which revealed the details of the incident, is tracking the activity cluster under the name ...
1 year ago Thehackernews.com
Microsoft Links Charlie Hebdo Attacks to Iranian StateSponsored Group - Microsoft's Digital Threat Analysis Center has linked a recent cyber attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to an Iranian nation-state actor. The group, which calls itself Holy Souls and has also been identified as Emennet Pasargad by ...
1 year ago Csoonline.com
Check Point Research Report: Shift in Cyber Warfare Tactics - Highlights: Shift in Cyber Warfare Focus: Recent developments in cyber warfare reveal a shift in the activities of Iranian hacktivist proxies. Initially concentrated on Israel, these groups are now extending their cyber operations to include targets ...
11 months ago Blog.checkpoint.com
US Authorities Identify Iranian Connection in Recent Cybersecurity Breaches - It has been announced that six Iranian officials have been sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Iranian government organization responsible for the series of malicious cyber activities directed against ...
9 months ago Cysecurity.news
Cyber Insurance: A Smart Investment to Protect Your Business from Cyber Threats in 2023 - Don't wait until it's too late - get cyber insurance today and secure your business for tomorrow. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, cyber insurance is a particular type of insurance that helps businesses mitigate financial losses ...
9 months ago Cyberdefensemagazine.com
Cyber Insurance for Businesses: Navigating Coverage - To mitigate these risks, many businesses opt for cyber insurance. With the wide range of policies available, navigating the world of cyber insurance can be overwhelming. In this article, we will delve into the complexities of cyber insurance and ...
9 months ago Securityzap.com
Fighting ransomware: A guide to getting the right cybersecurity insurance - While the cybersecurity risk insurance market has been around for more than 20 years, the rapidly changing nature of attacks and the rise in the ransomware epidemic has markedly changed the nature of cyber insurance in recent years. It's more ...
10 months ago Scmagazine.com
Does Pentesting Actually Save You Money On Cyber Insurance Premiums? - Way back in the cyber dark ages of the early 1990s as many households were buying their first candy-colored Macintoshes and using them to play Oregon Trail and visit AOL chat rooms, many businesses started venturing into the digital realm as well by ...
11 months ago Securityboulevard.com
Three Key Threats Fueling the Future of Cyber Attacks - Improvements in cyber security and business continuity are helping to combat encryption-based ransomware attacks, yet the cyber threat landscape is continually evolving. Protecting an organization against intrusion remains a cat and mouse game, in ...
7 months ago Cyberdefensemagazine.com
Cyber Insights 2023: The Geopolitical Effect - The result is more than a dozen features on subjects ranging from AI, quantum encryption, and attack surface management to venture capital, regulations, and criminal gangs. The Russia/Ukraine war that started in early 2022 has been mirrored by a ...
1 year ago Securityweek.com
Wargames director Jackie Schneider on why cyber is one of 'the most interesting scholarly puzzles' - In other games, we had people from Silicon Valley who were leading AI companies or cyber companies. What we found is those who had expertise in cyber operations were more likely to be more nuanced about how they used the cyber capability. On a larger ...
5 months ago Therecord.media
Iran Ramps Up Cyberattacks on Israel Amid Hamas Conflict: Microsoft - In the context of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Iran's offensive operations against Israel were initially reactive and chaotic, but quickly ramped up and expanded in scope, Microsoft says. Immediately after October 7, Iranian threat actors were seen ...
9 months ago Securityweek.com
Microsoft Incident Response lessons on preventing cloud identity compromise - Microsoft Incident Response is often engaged in cases where organizations have lost control of their Microsoft Entra ID tenant, due to a combination of misconfiguration, administrative oversight, exclusions to security policies, or insufficient ...
11 months ago Microsoft.com
Understanding Backdoor Diplomacy Attack on Iranian Government Entities - In today’s digital world, cyberattacks are becoming increasingly prevalent, particularly against governments and public or private entities. Recently, a new targeted attack against Iranian government entities has been detected. Dubbed “Backdoor ...
1 year ago Heimdalsecurity.com
IT Professionals in ASEAN Confronting Rising Cyber Security Risks - The ASEAN region is seeing more cyber attacks as digitisation advances. In July 2023, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations officially opened a joint cyber security information sharing and research centre, or Cybersecurity and Information Centre ...
11 months ago Techrepublic.com
What CIRCIA Means for Critical Infrastructure Providers and How Breach and Attack Simulation Can Help - Cyber Defense Magazine - To prepare themselves for future attacks, organizations can utilize BAS to simulate real-world attacks against their security ecosystem, recreating attack scenarios specific to their critical infrastructure sector and function within that sector, ...
1 month ago Cyberdefensemagazine.com
Microsoft: Iranian hackers target researchers with new MediaPl malware - Microsoft says that a group of Iranian-backed state hackers are targeting high-profile employees of research organizations and universities across Europe and the United States in spearphishing attacks pushing new backdoor malware. The attackers, a ...
10 months ago Bleepingcomputer.com
Mississippi Creates New Cyber Unit and Names First Director - The state of Mississippi has recently announced the creation of a new dedicated cyber security unit, as well as the naming of its first director. The Mississippi Cyber Security Unit, headed by Director Kelly Hurst and backed by the Mississippi Office ...
1 year ago Securityweek.com
ICS at Multiple US Water Facilities Targeted by Hackers Affiliated With Iranian Government - The hackers behind recent cyberattacks targeting industrial control systems at water facilities in the US are affiliated with the Iranian government, according to security agencies in the United States and Israel. The FBI, CISA, the NSA, the EPA and ...
11 months ago Securityweek.com
Uncertainty Is the Biggest Challenge to Australia's Cyber Security Strategy - Political shifts could lead to changes in Australia's cyber security strategy. Early in 2023, as the Australian government started to craft its cyber security vision, it met with opposition at both ends of the political spectrum. On the right wing, ...
10 months ago Techrepublic.com
Cybersecurity Tops 2024 Global Business Risks - The newly released Allianz Risk Barometer revealed that Cyber incidents such as ransomware attacks, data breaches, and IT disruptions are the biggest worry for companies globally, as well as in the United States, in 2024. The 13th annual business ...
9 months ago Cybersecurity-insiders.com
Key Group uses leaked builders of ransomware and wipers | Securelist - The first discovered sample of Key Group, the Xorist ransomware, established persistence in the system by changing file extension associations. The .huis_bn extension added to encrypted files in the early versions of Key Group samples, Xorist and ...
1 month ago Securelist.com
Meet Your New Cybersecurity Auditor: Your Insurer - As businesses deal with the fallout of massive ransomware waves, from Lapsus$ to Cl0p/MOVEit, an unlikely new entity is joining the regulatory bodies to raise the bar for cybersecurity: the cyber insurer. Their coverage requirements and ...
11 months ago Darkreading.com

Latest Cyber News


Cyber Trends (last 7 days)


Trending Cyber News (last 7 days)