(CNN) — The US Justice Department on Tuesday charged eight Iranians for their alleged roles in a years-long hacking campaign to steal data from five federal and state government agencies as well as scores of US universities and companies.
Prosecutors accused the hackers of gaining access to government and private email accounts and stealing a large swath of intellectual property from US universities while often operating on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Among the hackers’ alleged victims were the Department of Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the United Nations.
The hackers allegedly breached about 8,000 email accounts belonging to professors in the US, Europe and other locations. The academic data and intellectual property the hackers targeted cost the US universities $3.4 billion to “procure and access,” according to the indictment. In some cases, the hackers sold the stolen academic data to Iranians who could then access the online libraries of American universities, the Justice Department said.
Among the hacked private US companies were 11 tech firms and two defense contractors, none of which the Justice Department named.
“Backed by the IRGC, this operation reflects a broader, organized effort to target U.S. institutions and global partners,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The activity began years, ago, but it’s the latest reminder of Iran’s cyber capabilities and the costs they might impose on US groups amid the US-Iran war.
In six months of the war, Iran has been a key suspect in cyberattacks on US water systems, tank readers at gas stations, a major medical device maker and FBI Director Kash Patel’s private email account.
Seventeen people have now been charged in the broader alleged hacking scheme that was the focus of Tuesday’s superseding indictment. The Justice Department announced charges against nine other people in 2018.
CNN has requested comment on the charges from the Iranian Permanent Mission to the United Nations.
The indictment outlines the ecosystem of hackers-for-fire on which Iran’s intelligence services allegedly rely. For example, one alleged member of the hacking conspiracy also worked on a website project for Iran’s supreme leader. Another “worked on behalf of the Iranian military to conduct computer network attacks that targeted military systems, nuclear software systems, and Israeli infrastructure,” the indictment says.
The-CNN-Wire
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