17 Iranians charged in US cyber theft campaign, federal prosecutors say
Federal prosecutors in New York on Tuesday charged 17 Iranians with conducting a "coordinated campaign of cyber intrusions" at United States-based universities, companies and government agencies.
The hackers from an Iran-based company allegedly wormed into 144 U.S.-based universities, 42 private-sector companies, five federal and state agencies and at least two non-governmental organizations since 2013, according to the indictment.
Federal prosecutors said they stole more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property as well as employees' email accounts.
They allegedly "conducted many of these intrusions on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran's ('Iran') Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," federal prosecutors said.
Nine of the 17 defendants were previously charged with similar activity.
"Today's charges show that neither sophistication nor geographic boundaries will deter us from protecting the national security of our country from those who target the United States from abroad," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jamie McDonald said in a statement.
"These charges, which include eight additional defendants, reveal the broader network allegedly behind a sweeping, state-sponsored campaign to steal research and intellectual property from American universities, businesses, and government institutions," McDonald said.
Three weeks ago, the federal government issued a warning about potential cyber threats to U.S. water systems after water plants in Minnesota were hit with cyberattacks that multiple U.S. officials told ABC News might be linked to Iran.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said cyber threat actors were targeting programmable logic controllers and modifying passwords "to lock out operators."
"This activity has resulted in boil water notices and sustained manual operations," the CISA said.
