US unseals expanded indictment charging 17 Iranians in Mabna Institute hacking case
The Facts
- A 14-count superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court charges 17 members of the Iran-based Mabna Institute.
- Nine of the 17 defendants were charged in a March 2018 indictment; the new filing adds eight defendants.
- Prosecutors allege the intrusions began by 2013 and reached 144 U.S. universities and 178 foreign universities.
- The indictment also lists at least 42 U.S. companies, 11 foreign companies, five U.S. government agencies and two NGOs as victims.
- The Justice Department says the group stole more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property.
- Prosecutors allege the hacking was carried out for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian government and university clients.
- Alleged victims include the U.S. Department of Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the United Nations.
- The State Department's Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $10 million for information on five defendants.
Context
What is the Mabna Institute?
It is an Iran-based company founded in approximately 2013 by Gholamreza Rafatnejad and Ehsan Mohammadi Hill. Prosecutors describe the Tehran-based firm, which is under U.S. sanctions, as having conducted coordinated cyber intrusions on behalf of the IRGC and other Iranian government and university clients Court House News Se…,GlobalSecurity.org.
How large was the alleged theft?
The Justice Department says more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property were taken, material the BBC reported as valued at roughly $3.4 billion BBC,GlobalSecurity.org. Prosecutors say the campaign targeted more than 100,000 professor accounts worldwide, with about 8,000 email accounts compromised CNN International,Middle East Eye,Court House News Se….
Are the defendants in custody?
Five of the defendants — named as Behzad Mesri, Mojtaba Galekuhi, Arman Kahzadian, Keyvan Fayaz and Saber Shahbazi Ballojeh — remain at large, and the U.S. is offering up to $10 million for information leading to their location or prosecution Arab News,Manila times,International Busin…. The case is being heard in the Southern District of New York, with the UK's National Crime Agency credited for assistance International Busin….
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- A decade of Iranian state-directed intrusions into open civilian institutions — universities, federal agencies, the UN — did real strategic damage, and neither framing questions the allegation or the harm.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is a criminal case being brought to court against 17 named individuals, or a foreign state's campaign against American research that indictments alone cannot answer.
How left and right read it
The exposed surface here is civilian: 144 U.S. universities, the Labor Department, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the United Nations. These are service institutions, not fortresses. So the right response is the one just unsealed — 17 named defendants, eight added to the 2018 case, $10 million for information — because intrusions running since 2013 are a case to prosecute, not a pretext for war.
“In six months of the war, Iran has been a key suspect in cyberattacks on US water systems, tank readers at gas stations, a major medical device maker and FBI Director Kash Patel's private email account.” — CNN International
American research and industry are strategic assets, and a foreign state that harvests them wholesale is waging a campaign against our self-reliance, not committing an ordinary crime. That is precisely what prosecutors allege here: intrusions running since 2013 into 144 U.S. universities, dozens of American companies and five federal agencies, with more than 31 terabytes taken for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian clients. So the response owed is punitive pressure on the sponsor, not courtroom paperwork alone.
The receipts — all 36 sources
Wire services (2)
Independent coverage (34)
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