{"id":1647,"date":"2023-09-01T16:35:09","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T16:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=76810"},"modified":"2023-09-01T16:35:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T16:35:09","slug":"hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/01\/hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app\/","title":{"rendered":"Hackers push anti-Iranian government messages to millions via breached app"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><head> <meta charset=\"UTF-8\"> <meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width, initial-scale=1\"> <meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-image-preview:large, max-snippet:-1, max-video-preview:-1\"> <!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.5 (Yoast SEO v20.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ --> <title>Hackers push anti-Iranian government messages to millions 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readability=\"0.82\"> <button class=\"stickybar__close js-stickybar-close\" aria-controls=\"stickybar\"> <svg class=\"icon icon--close\" width=\"21\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 22\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"m.822.518-.805.805L9.695 11 .017 20.678l.805.805 9.678-9.678 9.677 9.678.806-.805L11.305 11l9.678-9.677-.806-.805-9.677 9.677L.822.518Z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Close<\/span> <\/button> <\/section>\n<article class=\"single-article content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__container js-single-article-content\">\n<header class=\"single-article__header \" readability=\"25.924302788845\">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"31.333333333333\">\n<ul class=\"single-article__eyebrow\">\n<li class=\"single-article__category\"> <a class=\"single-article__category-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/news\/geopolitics\/\"> <span>Geopolitics<\/span> <\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> The apparent hack comes just ahead of the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, the Iranian woman who died in police custody. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app.jpg?resize=640%2C426&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app-1.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app-1.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app-1.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app-1.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app-1.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app-1.jpg?resize=600,400 600w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app-1.jpg?resize=252,168 252w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app-1.jpg?resize=506,337 506w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app-1.jpg?resize=1013,675 1013w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/hackers-push-anti-iranian-government-messages-to-millions-via-breached-app-1.jpg?resize=1265,843 1265w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1013px) 100vw, 1013px\"><figcaption> A portrait of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained on the grounds she did not comply with the headscarf rules, near the Iranian consulate on Oct. 31, 2022, in \u0130stanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Omer Kuscu\/ dia images via Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"27.909859661749\"><body readability=\"56.258203125\"><\/p>\n<p>An Iranian-focused hacking group known as Black Reward that has a history of going after the Iranian government announced a new attack late Thursday, this time targeting a financial services app that millions of Iranians use for digital transactions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDeath to Khamenei,\u201d the messages read according to a Google translation of screenshots the group posted online. \u201cWe return to the street because the revolution continues. For woman, life, freedom,\u201d the message read, along with the hashtag \u201c#MahsaAmini,\u201d a reference to the Iranian woman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/09\/21\/1124237272\/mahsa-amini-iran-women-protest-hijab-morality-police\">killed in police custody<\/a> in September 2022, sparking waves of nationwide protests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we all know, the fire of the revolution may calm down, but it will never be extinguished,\u201d a message posted to the group\u2019s Telegram channel read, according to a translation. \u201cBlackreward hacking group belongs to the people and will stay with the people until victory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The message was pushed through the 780 app, which facilitates financial transactions for online shopping, bill payment, bank balance information, and more, according to the developer of the app. The company claims to have more than 6 million users. Multiple people <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%D8%A7%D9%BE%D9%84%DB%8C%DA%A9%DB%8C%D8%B4%D9%86%20%DB%B7%DB%B8%DB%B0&amp;src=typed_query\">took to Twitter late Thursday and into Friday<\/a> to share videos of the alerts and comment on the messages.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Tweet discussing the apparent hack late Thursday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The company did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Black Reward emerged on Telegram on Sept. 25, 2022, a little more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2022\/sep\/17\/iran-protests-death-kurdish-woman-mahsaa-amini-morality-police\">a week after Amini\u2019s death<\/a>. In October 2022, the group released what it said was the Iranian government\u2019s private correspondence with the International Atomic Energy Agency. The<a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/iran-nuclear-emails-hack-leak-black-reward\/\"> Iranian government blamed the hack<\/a> on \u201cunauthorized access from a specific foreign country,\u201d but did not attribute more specifically than that. <\/p>\n<p>The group told CyberScoop at the time that it was made up of Iranians and \u201cwhatever the Islamic Republic says is a lie. We fight against the regime in support of women, life, and freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group\u2019s Telegram channel, which has more than 87,000 subscribers, had been dormant since Feb. 28 when it posted the second part of an alleged hack of the Fars news agency, which is managed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Black Reward did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.<\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\" readability=\"1.2454128440367\">\n<div class=\"author-card\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><h4 class=\"author-card__name\">Written by AJ Vicens<\/h4>\n<p> AJ covers nation-state threats and cybercrime. He was previously a reporter at Mother Jones. 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