Black Reward Hacker Group Leaks Iran's Nuclear Program Emails

JAKARTA - Iranian state media reported on Sunday, October 23, that the country's atomic energy organization announced that an email server belonging to one of its subsidiaries had been hacked by foreign state agents, and the information was published online.

An Iranian hacking group, Black Reward, said in a statement published on Twitter that it had released hacked information related to Iran's nuclear activities. They stated that the move was an act of support for the protesters in Iran.

Their statement, published on Saturday, October 22, concluded with the words "In the name of Mahsa Amini and for women, life, freedom". This is in support of the protests sparked by his death in moral police custody last month.

Black Reward said the information released included "management and operational schedules of various parts of the Bushehr power plant", passports and visas of Iranian and Russian specialist workers working there, and "atomic development contracts and agreements with domestic and foreign partners".

The atomic energy organization's general department of public diplomacy and information affairs played down the importance of the information released, saying "this move was made with the aim of attracting public attention".

"It should be noted that the content in the user's email contains routine and up-to-date technical messages and daily exchanges," state media reported.

Black Reward, in a statement published on October 21, threatened to release the hacked information within 24 hours unless authorities released political prisoners and people arrested during the riots.

Talks between world powers and Iran aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal stalled, as the United States said on October 12 that Tehran had shown little interest in reviving the pact.