The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency has admitted that data from a retired server at its Vienna headquarters was stolen and posted to a hacker website. A group calling itself Parastoo allegedly stole the data in an effort to draw attention to Israel's nuclear weapons program and as a protest against attacks on Iran's nuclear efforts—including the use of the Stuxnet worm and assassinations of Iranian nuclear researchers.

A Pastebin posting on November 25 by someone purporting to represent the group (which takes its name from the Farsi name for the swallow) listed the e-mail addresses of physicists and other experts that had consulted with the IAEA. The message urged the people whose addresses were listed to petition the IAEA to investigate "activities at Dimona"—the site of Israel's Negev Nuclear Research Center, which is widely believed to be the center of Israel's nuclear weapons production efforts.

"We would like to assert that we have evidences [sic] showing there are beyond-harmful operations taking place at this site and the above list who technically help IAEA could be considered a partner in crime should an accident happen there," the statement read.

The group also said it would publish the addresses and professional details of all of the individuals listed, and it made vague threats against them if there was further violence against Iranian nuclear researchers—"if a Western-favored element entertains another sip of motorbike & magnetbomb cocktail. You are not anonymous," the poster said. "Expect us."

IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor told Reuters' Fredrik Dahl that the server the data was stolen from was "an old server that was shut down some time ago," and that the agency regretted the breach. "The IAEA's technical and security teams are continuing to analyze the situation and do everything possible to help ensure that no further information is vulnerable," Tudor said.