The U.S. Department of Justice charged 17 Iranians in a sweeping cyber-theft campaign accused of stealing academic research and intellectual property from hundreds of universities worldwide, including institutions in Israel.
A 14-count superseding indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court charges members of the Iran-based Mabna Institute, which prosecutors say conducted cyber intrusions on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian government and university clients.
Nine of the 17 defendants were previously charged in the original 2018 indictment. Tuesday’s indictment adds eight defendants and describes additional cyberattacks against American and international institutions.
The hacking campaign began in about 2013 and continued through at least December 2017, according to the indictment. The defendants allegedly targeted more than 100,000 professor accounts worldwide and compromised about 8,000 accounts at 144 U.S. universities and 178 universities abroad.
The hackers allegedly stole at least 31.5 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property, including journals, theses, dissertations and electronic books. The material covered fields including science and technology, engineering, medicine, social sciences and other professional disciplines.
U.S. universities spent more than $3.4 billion to obtain and access the data and intellectual property targeted in the campaign, according to the Justice Department.
The operation also targeted the private sector and government agencies. The defendants allegedly compromised employee email accounts at at least 42 U.S. companies, 11 foreign companies and five U.S. federal and state agencies, as well as organizations including the United Nations and the U.N. Children’s Fund.
The indictment also alleges that members of the network hacked media and entertainment company Home Box Office, Inc. in 2017 and attempted to extort the company for about $6 million in Bitcoin. Behzad Mesri, who was separately charged in the HBO case, and five other defendants in the Mabna case are accused of participating in the intrusion.
Prosecutors say the hackers sold stolen academic material through websites serving customers in Iran and offered access to university library systems using compromised professor accounts.
The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $10 million for information leading to the location of five defendants: Mesri, Mojtaba Galekuhi, Arman Kahzadian, Keyvan Fayaz and Saber Shahbazi Ballojeh.
“The superseding indictment alleges that, at the behest of entities including the IRGC, these defendants hacked into universities and other research institutions worldwide,” John A. Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for National Security, stated.
The defendants face charges including conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, unauthorized computer access, aggravated identity theft and wire fraud.
