DOJ Charges 17 Iranian Hackers in IRGC-Linked Cyber Espionage Campaign
Brief
The U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has unsealed a 14-count superseding indictment charging 17 alleged members and affiliates of the Iran-based Mabna Institute over a long-running cyber-espionage and data-theft operation allegedly conducted for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other Iranian government and university clients.
The case expands the 2018 prosecution that initially named nine defendants. According to the DOJ, the alleged campaign began in 2013 and targeted a wide cross-section of academic, commercial, government, and non-governmental organizations worldwide.
Victims included 144 U. S. -based universities, 178 foreign universities, at least 42 U. S. private-sector companies, 11 foreign companies, five U. S. federal and state agencies, and at least two NGOs.