Federal authorities have charged 17 Iranian nationals with participating in a years-long cyber attack campaign that targeted hundreds of universities, numerous companies, and several government agencies. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the defendants were allegedly working with the Mabna Institute, which conducted hacking operations on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other government and university clients.
The indictment details that the targets included U.S. and international universities, dozens of private companies, and at least five state and federal government agencies. The stolen research was reportedly resold through two websites, Megapaper.ir and Gigapaper.ir, with the latter renting out compromised professor login credentials to allow Iranian customers access to foreign university libraries. U.S. institutions had spent approximately $3.4 billion acquiring the targeted material, while separate victims incurred more than $20 million in remediation costs.
Part of the indictment highlights the involvement of Behzad Mesri, who was previously charged with hacking entertainment company Home Box Office (HBO), stealing proprietary data, and attempting to extort approximately $6 million in bitcoin. Prosecutors stated that five other defendants—Saeid Houshyar, Manouchehr Hashemloo, Keyvan Fayaz, Saber Shahbazi Ballojeh, and Arman Kahzadian—were also directly involved in the HBO hack.
The Mabna Institute was founded around 2013 by Gholamreza Rafatnejad and Ehsan Mohammadi. In response to the charges, the U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $10 million for information leading to the location or identification of the defendants.
