We are here today to announce that a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York indicted nine Iranians for conspiring to hack into computers and defraud American and foreign universities, businesses, and government agencies.
I want to caution you that an indictment is not a finding of guilt. In the American judicial system, defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.
The indictment alleges that the defendants worked on behalf of the Iranian government, specifically the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
They hacked the computer systems of approximately 320 universities in 22 countries. 144 of the victims are American universities. The defendants stole research that cost the universities approximately $3.4 billion to procure and maintain.
The stolen information was used by the Revolutionary Guard or sold for profit in Iran.
The defendants worked for the Mabna Institute, an organization that two of the defendants founded with the stated purpose of helping Iranian universities access scientific research.
Their work consisted of stealing research through illegal computer intrusions.
The indictment charges nine defendants for committing seven federal crimes. The charges include computer fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy, and identity theft.
439 posted on 03/23/2018 7:46:37 AM PDT by Steven W.