When a high-profile security breach occurs within the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the internal fallout for the IT and technical staff is often severe. Because the state views its broadcast signal as a critical tool for national security and ideological control, a “hack” is rarely treated as a mere technical failure; it is typically investigated as a matter of national security or potential “insider sabotage.”
Based on historical precedents and reports from previous IRIB hacks (such as the 2022 and 2025 incidents), here are the likely consequences for the staff involved:

1. Interrogations and “Insider” Suspicions
   The Iranian government often assumes that a complex hack—especially one that bypasses air-gapped systems or involves broadcast signal hijacking—requires help from the inside.

• Mass Questioning: Security and intelligence teams (often from the IRGC or Ministry of Intelligence) typically detain the entire shift of IT workers, broadcast engineers, and supervisors for intensive interrogation.
• Polygraph and Background Checks: Staff often face renewed, aggressive vetting to determine if they have any “counter-revolutionary” sympathies or contact with groups like the Pahlavi-supporting “Lion’s Awakening.”

1. Disciplinary Action and Dismissal
   Even if an employee is not found guilty of active sabotage, they are frequently held responsible for “negligence.”

• Summary Firings: In past incidents, high-ranking officials and technical directors have been dismissed immediately to show the public that “action is being taken.”
• Blacklisting: In Iran’s state sector, being fired for a security breach often results in being “starred” or blacklisted, making it nearly impossible for the IT worker to find employment in any other government or semi-private entity.

1. Judicial and Security Consequences
   In the most serious cases, where “intentional negligence” or “collaboration” is suspected, the consequences move from the workplace to the courtroom.

• Arbitrary Detention: Staff may be held in “incommunicado” detention (without access to lawyers) for weeks while investigators look for evidence of a digital “backdoor” left open.
• Charges of “Sabotage”: Under Iranian law, acts that damage state infrastructure or assist “hostile groups” can carry heavy prison sentences or even capital charges in extreme cases of “corruption on earth” (Mofsed-e-filarz).

1. Psychological Pressure
   Working at IRIB becomes a high-stress environment following a hack.

• Surveillance: The remaining staff are often subjected to 24/7 monitoring, including surveillance of their personal phones, social media, and family communications.
• Atmosphere of Fear: The “unfortunate” aspect for these workers is that they are often used as scapegoats to divert attention from the state’s technical vulnerabilities.
  Summary of the “Hacker” Context
  While the hackers (groups like Edalat-e Ali or Lion’s Awakening) are usually safe abroad or behind encrypted layers, the local IT staff are the ones physically accessible to the regime’s security apparatus. Historical reports suggest that the regime views these breaches as a “loss of face” that must be answered with a show of force internally.