The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 17 Iranians in connection with a widespread cyber-theft campaign that allegedly targeted and stole academic research and intellectual property from hundreds of universities globally. The charges, outlined in a 14-count superseding indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court, accuse members of the Iran-based Mabna Institute of conducting these cyber intrusions on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other Iranian government and university clients.
This superseding indictment adds eight new defendants to the original charges filed in 2018 against nine individuals. The alleged hacking campaign commenced around 2013 and continued through at least December 2017. According to prosecutors, the defendants targeted more than 100,000 professor accounts worldwide, successfully compromising approximately 8,000 accounts across 144 U.S. universities and 178 international institutions.
The stolen material, totaling at least 31.5 terabytes, includes journals, theses, dissertations, and electronic books spanning scientific and technological fields, engineering, medicine, social sciences, and other professional disciplines. The Justice Department estimates that U.S. universities spent over $3.4 billion to acquire and access the data and intellectual property that was targeted.
Beyond academia, the operation also impacted the private sector and government agencies. The indictment alleges that the defendants compromised employee email accounts at least 42 U.S. companies, 11 foreign companies, and five U.S. federal and state agencies. Additionally, organizations such as the United Nations and the UN Children’s Fund were reportedly affected.
In 2017, members of the network are also accused of hacking into the media and entertainment company Home Box Office, Inc., and attempting to extort approximately $6 million in Bitcoin from the company. Behzad Mesri, who faces separate charges in the HBO case, is among the defendants implicated in this intrusion.
Prosecutors stated that the hackers allegedly sold the pilfered academic materials through websites catering to customers within Iran and offered access to university library systems using compromised professor credentials. The State Department's Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $10 million for information that leads to the whereabouts of five of the 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," said John A. Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for National Security. The defendants face charges including conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, unauthorized computer access, aggravated identity theft, and wire fraud.