Summary
The US Department of Justice has charged 17 Iranians for running a large cyber theft campaign targeting American universities, companies, and government agencies. The hackers, linked to the Iranian government, stole academic data and intellectual property over several years starting in 2013.
Key Facts
- Seventeen Iranians are charged with conducting coordinated cyberattacks since 2013.
- The group, called the Mabna Institute and linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), targeted 144 US universities and 42 private companies.
- They stole more than 31 terabytes of data worth about $3.4 billion.
- Around 8,000 professor email accounts at US universities were hacked, plus 178 academic institutions worldwide targeted.
- Mabna also hacked employee emails at five US federal and state government agencies.
- The cyberattacks extended to 11 foreign companies in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, and the UK.
- The US is offering a $10 million reward for information about five of the hackers still at large.
- Nine of the accused had been charged before in 2018 for related crimes.
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