US charges eight more Iranians over alleged state-linked hacking campaign targeting universities

US charges eight more Iranians over alleged state-linked hacking campaign targeting universities

U.S. prosecutors have charged eight additional Iranians in an alleged state-linked hacking campaign that targeted universities, companies and government agencies worldwide.

The expanded indictment brings the number of defendants linked to the Tehran-based Mabna Institute to 17, nine of whom were originally charged in 2018. Prosecutors allege the institute carried out attacks for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian clients.

The hackers allegedly targeted more than 100,000 academic accounts and compromised around 8,000 of them at 322 universities, stealing at least 31.5 terabytes of research and intellectual property, the U.S. Justice Department said. They also allegedly breached companies, U.S. government agencies, the United Nations and UNICEF, and sold stolen academic materials through Iranian websites. The U.S. State Department is offering rewards of up to $10 million for information leading to the location of five of the defendants.