US charges 9 Iranians in cyberthefts
Feds: Hackers breached many computer systems
WASHINGTON – Nine Iranians have been charged as part of a massive statesponsored cybertheft campaign that targeted hundreds of universities, companies and government entities in the U.S. and abroad, federal authorities announced Friday.
The suspects, all affiliates of an Iranbased company known as the Mabna Institute, allegedly breached the computer systems of the U.S. Labor Department, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the United Nations, and the states of Hawaii and Indiana.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Friday that the suspects allegedly stole more than 31 terabytes of data – about 15 billion pages – from 140 American universities, 30 U.S. companies and five government agencies, while targeting 176 universities abroad.
The stolen information, including academic research in technology, medicine and other sciences, is valued at $3.4 billion, authorities said.
At least 100,000 email accounts held by university professors and researchers were targeted, and about 8,000 of the accounts were compromised.
“For many of these intrusions, the defendants acted at the behest of the Iranian government and, specifically, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps,” Rosenstein said.
While the nine suspects remain in Iran, beyond the immediate reach of U.S. authorities, Rosenstein said their public identification “helps deter statesponsored computer intrusions by stripping them of anonymity and imposing consequences.”