Microsoft: Iran Unit Behind Charlie Hebdo Hack-and-Leak Op

A special edition of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that marks one year after, "1 an apres" the attacks on it, on a newsstand at a train station in Paris on Jan. 6, 2016. Francois Mori/AP Photo

After the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo launched a cartoon contest to mock Iran’s ruling cleric, a state-backed Iranian cyber unit struck back with a hack-and-leak campaign that was designed to provoke fear with the claimed pilfering of a big subscriber database, Microsoft security researchers say.

The FBI blames the same Iranian cyber operators, Emennet Pasargad, for an influence operation that sought to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the tech giant said in a blog published Friday. Iran has in recent years stepped up false-flag cyber operations as a tool for discrediting foes.