The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 17 Iranian nationals alleged to be members of the Mabna Institute, a hacking-for-hire company that conducted years-long cyber operations on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Eight of the defendants are newly charged; nine were previously indicted in March 2018 for breaking into more than 300 universities and private companies. The DOJ is also offering rewards of up to $10 million for information on five of the defendants.
According to prosecutors, the operation began around 2013 and systematically targeted the email accounts of more than 100,000 professors worldwide, successfully compromising roughly 8,000. Through those accounts the group stole 31.5 terabytes of academic data — journals, dissertations, research papers, and ebooks across dozens of disciplines — valued at approximately $3.4 billion. The campaign ultimately hit 178 universities (144 in the United States), 53 private companies (42 in the US), two NGOs, and at least 10 U.S. state agencies. HBO was among the named victims, reportedly extorted for $6 million in Bitcoin during the operation. The defendants face charges including conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, wire fraud, unauthorized access for financial gain, and aggravated identity theft, carrying maximum penalties of up to 20 years in prison.