The U.S. Sanctions an Institution and 10 Iranians for Cyber Attacks; Iran's Reaction

On Friday, March 23, the U.S. government sanctioned an institution and 10 Iranians for allegedly hacking hundreds of American and international universities. The U.S. Treasury Department accused this entity and the 10 individuals of hacking over 31 terabytes of academic information from 144 American universities and 176 international universities in 21 countries. Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General of the U.S., stated in a press conference that the stolen information caused damages equivalent to $3.4 billion to these universities. He added, 'These suspects are now fugitives and are being pursued.' He also warned that if these individuals travel outside of Iran, they will face extradition in over 100 countries worldwide. On Saturday, Bahram Qasemi, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, reacted to this news in a press conference, stating, 'The U.S. will certainly not succeed in using sanctions to stop or prevent the scientific growth of the Iranian people.' Qasemi condemned the U.S. action as 'provocative, illegal, and without any justification, and a clear sign of the inherent hostility of the U.S. government towards the Iranian nation.' U.S. officials accused the Mabna Institute and nine of its employees of carrying out these actions on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). They claim these individuals are involved in the 'Mabna' institute, which has conducted cyber attacks in recent years. The U.S. Department of Justice has charged these individuals and the Mabna Institute with conspiracy, fraud, and identity theft. The Justice Department stated that in this cyber campaign, the email accounts of over 100,000 university professors worldwide were targeted, and they were able to infiltrate 8,000 of them. According to the Justice Department, this is the largest attack by state-sponsored hackers. The hackers also targeted the U.S. Department of Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the United Nations. The individuals named in this case include Gholamreza Rafatnejad, Ehsan Mohammadi, Seyed Ali Mirkarimi, Abdollah Karima, Mostafa Sadeghi, Sajad Tahmasbi, Mohammadreza Sabahi, Roozbeh Sabahi, and Abouzar Gohari Moghadam. Reuters reports that this is the fourth instance in recent months where the Trump administration has accused a foreign government of conducting cyber attacks. During Barack Obama's presidency, this was very rare. The news agency adds that last week, the U.S. government accused Russia of conducting cyber attacks on the U.S. power grid over the past two years. Washington imposed new sanctions on 19 Russian citizens and several groups and entities, including the Moscow security agency, for interference in the 2016 presidential election and other cyber attacks against the country. The Obama administration charged seven Iranians in 2016 for disrupting the computer network of dozens of American banks and attempting to shut down a dam in New York. Simultaneously, on Friday, the U.S. Treasury Department identified the Mabna Institute in Iran and Behzad Masri, known as 'Silence of Terror,' as responsible for hacking the cable television network HBO. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, announced in his Nowruz message that the U.S. Treasury Department would impose sanctions against Iran.