US charges Iranians for sprawling hacking campaign on government agencies, universities
DOJ indicts 17 Iranians tied to Mabna Institute IRGC hacking-for-hire campaign that stole 31TB from universities, agencies, and UN organizations.
The U.S. Justice Department unsealed a 14-count superseding indictment charging 17 people linked to the Mabna Institute, allegedly operating on behalf of the IRGC, in a campaign running since around 2013. The group breached 144 US universities, 42 US companies, 178 foreign universities, 11 foreign companies, and agencies including the Department of Labor, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Hawaii and Indiana state governments, plus UN organizations such as UNICEF, stealing at least 31 terabytes of academic and proprietary data and about 8,000 professor email accounts. The State Department offered a $10 million reward for five individuals including Behzad Mesri, previously indicted for the $6 million HBO extortion; universities spent roughly $20 million on investigation and remediation.
- 14-count superseding indictment charges 17 people, 8 previously indicted in 2018
- At least 31TB of data and ~8,000 professor email accounts compromised
- Victims include 5 federal/state agencies, UNICEF, and hundreds of universities
- $10M reward for Mesri, Galekuhi, Kahzadian, Fayaz, and Shahbazi Ballojeh
- ATT&CK
- T1110 Brute Force
- Threat actors
- Mabna InstituteCyberAv3ngers
- Countries
- IranUnited States
From the original article
3 min read at therecord.media
The Justice Department accused hackers connected to Iran’s military of breaching employee email accounts connected to the Department of Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and multiple United Nations organizations. The campaign, which started around 2013, also involved accounts connected to state government agencies in Hawaii and Indiana.
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