US sanctions Iranian cyber actors for "malicious" cyber-enabled activities

WASHINGTON, March 23 (KUNA) -- The US designated Friday one Iranian entity and 10 Iranian individuals for engaging "in the theft of valuable intellectual property and data from hundreds of US and third-country universities and a media company for private financial gain." The Department of Treasury said in a statement that in a coordinated action with the Department of Justice designated the Iranian entity and 10 Iranian individuals "under Executive Order (E.O.) 13694, "Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities, as amended." Treasury Under Secretary Sigal Mandelker said in this regard "Iran is engaged in an ongoing campaign of malicious cyber activity against the United States and our allies.
"The IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) outsourced cyber intrusions to The Mabna Institute, a hacker network that infiltrated hundreds of universities to steal sensitive data," she added.
She stressed "we will not tolerate the theft of US intellectual property, or intrusions into our research institutions and universities. Treasury will continue to systematically use our sanctions authorities to shine a light on the Iranian regimeآ’s malicious cyber practices, and hold it accountable for criminal cyber-attacks." As a result of today's action, "all property and interests in property of the designated persons subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them," the Treasury noted.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice said in a statement that nine of the Iranians have been charged with conducting a "massive cyber theft campaign on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps." It indicated that "the defendants were each leaders, contractors, associates, hackers-for-hire or affiliates of the Mabna Institute, an Iran-based company that, since at least 2013, conducted a coordinated campaign of cyber intrusions into computer systems belonging to 144 US universities, 176 universities across 21 foreign countries, 47 domestic and foreign private sector companies, the US Department of Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the State of Hawaii, the State of Indiana, the United Nations, and the United Nations Childrenآ’s Fund." Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein stressed that the Department of Justice "will aggressively investigate and prosecute hostile actors who attempt to profit from Americaآ’s ideas by infiltrating our computer systems and stealing intellectual property. This case is important because it will disrupt the defendantsآ’ hacking operations and deter similar crimes." (end) si.sd