Iranian Hacking Crew Cracked Universities, Companies for $6M Bitcoin Ransom
US authorities have charged 17 Iranians for their alleged involvement in a massive hacking campaign that spanned years. The defendants, working on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other clients, targeted hundreds of universities, dozens of companies, and at least five state and federal government agencies around the world.
The indictment mentions Behzad Mesri, who was previously charged with hacking HBO and attempting to extort $6 million worth of Bitcoin. Five other defendants were directly involved in the hack: Saeid Houshyar, Manouchehr Hashemloo, Keyvan Fayaz, Saber Shahbazi Ballojeh, and Arman Kahzadian.
The stolen research was resold through two websites, Megapaper.ir and Gigapaper.ir. The latter rented out hijacked professor logins to Iranian customers so they could access foreign university libraries. US institutions spent $3.4 billion acquiring the material in the first place, while separate victims racked up more than $20 million cleaning up the breaches.