The US Department of Justice charged 17 Iranians over an alleged years-long cyber campaign that targeted universities, private companies and government agencies, with the group accused of stealing more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property.
Get breaking news anytime, anywhere. Download the TOI app now!
According to the DoJ, the Iran-based Mabna Institute carried out a coordinated hacking campaign on behalf of entities including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), targeting institutions in the US and several other countries.
144 US universities among targets
According to the indictment, the group allegedly targeted more than 100,000 academic accounts worldwide and successfully compromised around 8,000 professor email accounts across 144 US-based universities and 178 universities overseas.
The campaign, which allegedly began around 2013 and continued until at least December 2017, targeted academic journals, research papers, theses, dissertations and other intellectual property across a range of disciplines.
31.5TB of data allegedly stolen
The hackers allegedly stole around 31.5 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property, which was transferred to servers outside the US, according to the DoJ.
US universities had spent more than USD 3.4 billion to procure and access the targeted data and intellectual property, the indictment alleged.
Government agencies, firms also targeted
Beyond universities, the alleged campaign also targeted at least five US federal and state government agencies, 42 US private-sector companies and 11 foreign companies, according to the charges.
The indictment also alleges that stolen academic resources and access to compromised university accounts were sold to customers in Iran through websites linked to the operation.
The DoJ has announced a reward of up to USD 10 million for information leading to the location of five of the defendants.
