The US Department of Justice announced charges against seventeen Iranian nationals accused of conducting a prolonged coordinated cyber attack campaign spanning multiple years. Members of the Iran-based Mabna Institute allegedly targeted computer systems belonging to 144 universities within the United States and 42 private sector organizations, beginning in approximately 2013 and continuing through at least December 2017.
According to the DoJ, the operation resulted in the theft of more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property, with an estimated value of approximately $3.4 billion. The campaign involved compromising email accounts belonging to approximately 8,000 professors at the targeted American universities, as well as accounts at 178 additional academic institutions globally. The hackers reportedly targeted the accounts of roughly 100,000 academics worldwide during the operation.
The DoJ indicated that many of the attacks were conducted on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, along with other Iranian government and university clients. Beyond academic targets, the Mabna Institute allegedly compromised employee email accounts at five US federal and state government agencies. The operation also targeted at least 42 US-based private companies and 11 foreign companies located in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Nine of the seventeen individuals charged on Tuesday had previously faced charges in a separate seven-count indictment in March 2018. The DoJ announced a $10 million reward for information leading to the location of five of the charged individuals. FBI and Department of Justice officials characterized the operation as a significant national security threat and emphasized the critical nature of cyber operations to national interests and economic security.
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