Nine Iranians Charged in Massive Hacking Campaign

The United States Department of Justice announced nine Iranian citizens, working on behalf of the Iranian government, were charged in a massive computer hacking campaign. 

FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich said the hacking goes back more than four years and compromised U.S. and foreign universities, private companies, and U.S. government entities, to include the Department of Labor and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Nearly 144 U.S. universities and 176 foreign universites in 21 countries were compromised by the hackers. 

According to the FBI report, the hackers were affiliated with the Mabna Institute, a company “created in 2013 for the express purpose of illegally gaining access to non-Iranian scientific resources through computer intrusions.”

Members of the institute were also contracted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in addition to other Iranian government clients.