Microsoft Says Iranians Hacked France's Charlie Hebdo

FILE PHOTO: An Iran's flag is seen as the Eiffel Tower lit up with the slogan "#StopExecutionsInIran" in support of Iranians, in Paris, France, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An Iran's flag is seen as the Eiffel Tower lit up with the slogan "#StopExecutionsInIran" in support of Iranians, in Paris, France, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
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Microsoft Says Iranians Hacked France's Charlie Hebdo

FILE PHOTO: An Iran's flag is seen as the Eiffel Tower lit up with the slogan "#StopExecutionsInIran" in support of Iranians, in Paris, France, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An Iran's flag is seen as the Eiffel Tower lit up with the slogan "#StopExecutionsInIran" in support of Iranians, in Paris, France, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

US computing giant Microsoft said Friday that it had identified Iranian state actors as those behind the recent cyberattack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Clint Watts, the general manager of Microsoft's Digital Threat Analysis Center, said that the hackers, who called themselves "Holy Souls," were Iranian cybersecurity firm Emennet Pasargad, AFP reported.

In early January Holy Souls announced they had obtained the personal information of more than 200,000 Charlie Hebdo customers, and published a sample of the data as proof.

The cyberattack came after Charlie Hebdo published cartoons of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in a special edition to mark the anniversary of the 2015 attack on its Paris offices that left 12 dead.

Iran issued an official warning to France over the "insulting and indecent" cartoons.

Emennet Pasargad was the employer of two Iranians, Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazemi and Sajjad Kashian, who were indicted by the United States Justice Department in November 2021.

They allegedly conducted a cyber campaign "to intimidate and influence American voters, and otherwise undermine voter confidence and sow discord" during the 2020 US presidential election.

Kazemi and Kashian allegedly obtained confidential voter information and sent menacing emails, pushing out false information to influence both Democratic and Republican voters, and attempted to hack into state voting-related websites, the department said.

The Charlie Hebdo hackers, whose operation Microsoft dubbed "Neptunium", offered the stolen subscriber database for sale online for 20 bitcoin, currently about $460,000, Microsoft said.

"Whatever one may think of Charlie Hebdo's editorial choices, the release of personally identifiable information about tens of thousands of its customers constitutes a grave threat," Microsoft said.



Russian Drone Strike Kills 2, Wounds 14 in Ukraine's Odesa

A view shows an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Nina Liashonok
A view shows an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Nina Liashonok
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Russian Drone Strike Kills 2, Wounds 14 in Ukraine's Odesa

A view shows an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Nina Liashonok
A view shows an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Nina Liashonok

Two people were killed and at least 14 wounded when a Russian drone smashed into a residential high-rise in Ukraine's Black Sea city of Odesa, authorities said on Saturday.

Three children were among the wounded in the overnight attack, with one in critical condition, said regional Governor Oleh Kiper.

Footage posted by the State Emergency Service showed firefighters battling a blaze and rushing residents down a dark stairwell in the 21-storey building.

Separately, authorities of Ukraine's southern Kherson region said one person was killed and three others were wounded in Russian strikes over the past day.

"Russian troops targeted critical and social infrastructure and residential areas in the region," Kherson's governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram early on Saturday.

Russia has stepped up drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks as diplomatic efforts to end the nearly three-and-a-half-year-old war have stalled.