WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 17 Iranians with conducting massive cyber theft campaign targeting hundreds of Universities, companies and other victims to steal research, academic and proprietary data, and Intellectual Property.
A 14-count superseding indictment was unsealed on Tuesday charging members of the Mabna Institute, an Iran-based company that attacked computer systems of 144 U.S.-based universities, 178 foreign universities, 42 U.S.-based private sector companies, 11 foreign private sector companies, five U.S. federal and state government agencies, and two NGOs.
The Mabna Institute stole more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property from universities and other research institutions worldwide, including the United States, as well as the email accounts of employees at the private sector companies, government agencies, and NGOs.
The hackers have been operating since at least 2013 on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), one of several entities within the government responsible for gathering intelligence, as well as other Iranian government and university clients.
Gholamreza Rafatnejad and Ehsan Mohammadi founded the Mabna Institute in 2013 to assist Iranian universities and scientific and research organizations in stealing access to non-Iranian scientific resources.
The Mabna Institute targeted more than 100,000 accounts of professors around the world. They successfully compromised approximately 8,000 professor email accounts across 144 U.S.-based universities, and 178 universities located in foreign countries, including Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
In addition to stealing academic data and login credentials for the Iranian Government, the hackers also sold them through two websites, which is estimated at more than $3.4 billion, according to the Justice Department.
The hackers compromised and exfiltrated email accounts of employees of the U.S. Department of Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the State of Hawaii, the State of Indiana, the United Nations, and the United Nations Children's Fund.
They also hacked HBO's computer systems, stealing proprietary data, and then attempted to extort the entertainment company for approximately $6 million worth of Bitcoin.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman.
Separately, the U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the location of the accused, namely, Behzad Mesri, Keyvan Fayaz, Saber Shahbazi Ballojeh, Arman Kahzadian, and Mojtaba Galekuhi.
The years-long massive cyber theft campaign was unveiled after investigatioin by the FBI, with the help of the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs, OFAC, the RFJ Program, and the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency.
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