Four Iranian men were charged by prosecutors on Tuesday for allegedly orchestrating a hacking campaign that targeted U.S. federal agencies and more than 12 defense contractors handling classified information.
The men are accused of being affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as they focused their attacks on the State and Treasury departments, according to an indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York. It is not clear if the men were successful in their attacks against the Treasury and State departments. The Washington Examiner reached out to both for comment.
Between 2016 and 2021, the four hackers infected more than 200,000 victim devices, many of which contained sensitive or classified defense information,” Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said.
The indictment unsealed Tuesday revealed that Hossein Harooni, Reza Kazemifar, Alireza Shafie Nasab, and Komeil Baradaran Salmani were charged with wire and computer fraud, and Nasab had been charged in a previous indictment unsealed in the same district in February. Three of the men are accused of working for a front company in Iran in the guise of offering cybersecurity services. All four remain at large.
The State Department offered a reward of up to $10 million for information that would lead to the apprehension of the men.
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“The FBI is constantly working to detect and counter cyber campaigns like the one described in today’s indictment,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. “From enabling lethal plots, and repressing our citizens and residents, to targeting our critical infrastructure, we’ve often seen the trail of dangerous cyber-criminal activity lead back to Iran.”
In 2022, Iranian hackers were believed to be behind a cyberattack on Boston Children’s Hospital, which Wray referred to as “one of the most despicable cyberattacks” he’s ever seen.
