The United States has charged 17 Iranian nationals over a large-scale cyberattack campaign targeting universities, companies and government agencies in multiple countries. The US Department of Justice said Tuesday that the attacks resulted in the theft of vast quantities of research data and intellectual property. Iraqi news agency Shafaq News reported the development.
US officials allege the defendants targeted 144 universities in the United States, 178 universities in other countries, and 42 companies and government agencies. The attacks are alleged to have stolen more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property.
The US Department of Justice said some of the attacks were carried out on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iranian government institutions, and universities.
US investigators have also linked several other recent cyberattacks to Iran-backed groups. US media reports in July said roughly 30 water-supply systems in the state of Minnesota had been targeted in cyberattacks. The techniques used in those attacks were said to resemble those employed by the Iran-linked hacker group “Handala.”
The investigation has also examined a cyberattack on Los Angeles’s transportation system in March. Researchers at Israeli cybersecurity firm Gambit Security have blamed Iranian hackers for that attack.
They allege the attack stole at least 700 gigabytes of data from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, including emails, backup copies and other records.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report