Skip to main content

U.S. Charges Iranians For Global Cyber Attacks

The attack pilfered more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property.
                  U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks at a news conference with other law enforcement officials at the Justice D
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday charged nine Iranians and an Iranian company with attempting to hack into hundreds of U.S. and international universities, dozens of companies and parts of the U.S. government on behalf of the Tehran government.
The cyber attack pilfered more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property from 144 U.S. universities and 176 universities in 21 foreign countries, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
The U.S. Treasury Department said on its website that it was placing sanctions on those accused and the Mabna Institute, a company described by U.S. prosecutors as designed to help Iranian research organizations steal information.
“These defendants are now fugitives of justice,” U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said at a press conference, warning that they may face extradition in more than 100 countries if they travel outside of Iran.
The action is the fourth time in the past few months that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has blamed a foreign government for major cyber attacks, a practice that was relatively rare under the Obama administration.
The campaign targeted the email accounts of more than 100,000 professors worldwide and compromised about 8,000 of them, the Justice Department said, describing the conspiracy as one of the largest state-sponsored hacking sprees prosecuted.
Hackers also targeted the U.S. Labor Department, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the United Nations, prosecutors said.
Last week, the administration accused the Russian government of cyber attacks stretching back at least two years that targeted the U.S. power grid. Washington imposed new sanctions on 19 Russians and five groups, including Moscow’s intelligence services, for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other cyber attacks.
The Obama administration in 2016 indicted seven Iranians for distributed-denial-of-service attacks on dozens of U.S. banks and for trying to shut down a New York dam. Those hackers were also accused of working on behalf of Iran’s government.
On Friday, the Treasury department named the Iran-based Mabna Institute and Behzad Mesri, also known as “Skote Vahshat,” who was charged in 2017 with hacking cable TV network HBO.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inspector shot as police arrest three cult members

The suspects The Bayelsa State Police Command has arrested three suspected cult members in Yenegwe, in the Yenagoa area of the state. The suspects – Godstime Atiburuzi, 21; Righteous Bonnafor, 20, and Godgift Ebi, 18– said to be ringleaders of the Bobos cult, were reportedly apprehended by detectives attached to the Igbogene Police Division. PUNCH Metro learnt that in the course of the arrests, Atiburuzi, who wanted to escape, shot the police inspector who led the team in the hand. The inspector was said to have survived the attack and was admitted to an undisclosed hospital where he was being treated. A source said the suspects had been on the police wanted list for a long time, adding that while Atiburuzi was arrested on Monday, Bonafor and Ebi were apprehended on Tuesday. The source explained that the police, in a renewed effort to clamp down on suspected cult members in the state, had intensified operations on ringleaders of cul...
Post a Comment
Read more

N150B was shared by Goodluck Jonathan led government two weeks before 2015 election: VP Osinbanjo

                         Vice-President  Yemi Osinbajo  has alleged that the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan “essentially shared” N150 billion two weeks to the 2015 polls. . He said while the current administration with less revenue has increased capital funding by 400% in power, works and housing, defence, transportation, agricultural sectors, the Jonathan administration with surplus funds, spent N14 billion on agriculture in 2014, N15 billion on transportation, and a total of N153 billion on infrastructure in three years. Osinbajo said while the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has not completely dealt with corruption, it has demonstrated enough political will to reverse the trend. He spoke on Monday during the 7th presidential quarterly business forum for private sector stakeholders which held at the old banquet hall of the presidential villa, Abuja. “In one single trans...
Post a Comment
Read more

Killing of nearly 100 people in Plateau ‘retaliatory’ — Miyetti Allah

                                            Saturday’s mass killing of at least 86 people who were attending a funeral event in Plateau state was an act of revenge following an earlier attack, the cattle rearers’ group, Miyetti Allah, has said. Police said 86 people were killed in several villages while six persons were injured in the attack that lasted between 1p.m. and 8p.m. But residents said Monday over 120 people were massacred in separate attacks at different locations. The state government has imposed a dusk to dawn curfew in parts of the state, amid growing tensions between locals and migrant herdsmen community. Residents blame the attacks on Fulani herdsmen, a group represented by the Miyetti Allah. On Monday, the chairman the north central chapter o...
Post a Comment
Read more