U.S. Department of Justice Sues 17 Iranians Accused of Conducting Large-Scale Cyber Espionage Campaign on Behalf of Revolutionary Guards

The U.S. Department of Justice announced an indictment charging 17 members of Iran's Mabna Institute with long-running cyber intrusion campaigns targeting 144 U.S. universities, 178 foreign universities, at least 42 U.S. companies, 11 foreign companies, and multiple government and non-governmental agencies, resulting in the theft of more than 31 TB of academic data, intellectual property, and sensitive information. The indictment alleges that the group has conducted hacking operations under contract from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other Iranian government and university entities since 2013, profiting by compromising accounts, stealing research materials and proprietary data, and selling portions of the illicitly acquired resources. Some individuals involved also participated in the HBO hacking incident, where internal data was exfiltrated and attempts were made to extort approximately $6 million in Bitcoin.