Iranian hacking case expands to 17 suspects

US authorities expanded a prosecution of an alleged Iranian hacking network on Tuesday, bringing the number of indicted suspects to 17 in a case involving universities, companies and government agencies.

The Department of Justice unveiled a new indictment targeting eight additional people. Nine of the 17 defendants had already been indicted in 2018.

Prosecutors are offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the prosecution of five of the suspects: Behzad Mesri, Mojtaba Galekuhi, Arman Kahzadian, Keyvan Fayaz and Saber Shahbazi Ballojeh.

Prosecutors said all the defendants are linked to the Mabna Institute, an Iran-based organisation alleged to have carried out hacking operations on behalf of the Iranian government and the Revolutionary Guards.

The alleged campaign, carried out mainly between 2013 and 2017, targeted scientific data and intellectual property. The Justice Department said the expanded case covers the hacking of 144 US universities, 178 foreign universities, at least 42 US companies, 11 foreign firms, five US government agencies and two non-governmental organisations.

The Justice Department said the hackers targeted more than 100,000 accounts belonging to professors and are believed to have stolen about 31.5 terabytes of data, including scientific articles, dissertations and other research work.

US Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York said the passage of time would not deter US authorities from pursuing people who target the United States from abroad.