US Department of Justice Indicts 17 Iranians for Massive Cyberattacks

The United States Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that indictments have been filed against 17 Iranian citizens accused of conducting coordinated and large-scale cyberattacks. According to the report, members of the Iranian institute 'Mabna,' backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), worked to steal sensitive information from American and international organizations. The campaign, which began in 2013 and lasted until December 2017, involved the theft of over 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property, with an estimated value of $3.4 billion. The attacks targeted computer systems at 144 American universities, 42 private companies, and at least five US government agencies. James C. Barnacle Jr., an assistant director at the FBI, described the attacks as a 'serious threat to our national security.' The Mabna Institute targeted the accounts of approximately 100,000 academics worldwide and successfully breached about 8,000 email accounts of professors at 144 US universities and 178 other academic institutions globally. The US Department of Justice has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the apprehension of five of the indicted hackers. Jamie McDonald, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, emphasized that cyber operations have become a 'central tool of national power' and warned of the dangerous impact of such attacks on American security and the economy.