US charges 17 Iranians over 'massive' cyber theft campaign
Many of the alleged cyber attacks were carried out for the Iranian government, the Department of Justice says.
Seventeen Iranian individuals have been indicted by the United States for their alleged involvement in an extensive, state-sponsored cyber theft operation. The Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that these hackers were part of a "sweeping" effort to illicitly obtain data.
According to the DoJ, members of the Iran-based Mabna Institute are accused of orchestrating a "coordinated campaign" of cyberattacks that spanned several years, beginning as early as 2013. Their targets included the computer systems of 144 American universities and 42 private sector companies.
The "massive" campaign is believed to have resulted in the theft of over 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property, valued at approximately $3.4 billion (£2.5 million), the DoJ stated. James C. Barnacle, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI, characterized these coordinated cyberattacks as "a serious threat to our national security."
The DoJ's statement indicated that many of these attacks were carried out on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as for "other Iranian government and university clients." Barnacle further commented, "Backed by the IRGC, this operation reflects a broader, organised effort to target US institutions and global partners."
The Mabna Institute reportedly targeted the accounts of 100,000 academics globally, successfully compromising 8,000 professor email accounts across 144 US-based universities and an additional 178 international academic institutions. The DoJ specified that the campaign commenced around 2013 and persisted until at least December 2017.
In a related announcement, the department is offering a reward of $10 million (£7.3 million) for information that leads to the whereabouts of five of the charged individuals, who are described as alleged hackers-for-hire.
Jamie McDonald, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, emphasized that cyber operations have "become a central instrument of national power," highlighting the significant impact of cyberattacks on US security and economy.
Beyond academic institutions, the Mabna Institute is also accused of targeting and compromising employee email accounts from at least five US federal and state government agencies. The DoJ also noted that at least 42 US-based private companies and 11 foreign companies located in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, and the UK were targeted.
The Mabna Institute was established in 2013 with the stated purpose of assisting Iranian academic organizations in "stealing access to non-Iranian scientific resources," according to the DoJ. Nine of the 17 individuals charged on Tuesday had previously faced charges in a seven-count indictment in March 2018.