Human Heydarian and Mehdi Farhadi have been carrying out attacks since 2013 against organizations viewed as competitors or enemies of Iran.
US authorities brought charges two Iranian nationals, allegedly to carry out cyber attacks in the interests of the Iranian government, as well as for personal financial gain.
According to the indictment, Human Heydarian and Mehdi Farhadi have carried out attacks since 2013 on various targets, including American and foreign universities, military contractors, NGOs and non-profit organizations, foreign ministries and other targets viewed as competitors or enemies of Iran. The attackers mainly targeted organizations in the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
According to prosecutors, Heydarian and Farhadi hacked victims' accounts, computers and internal networks, and stole confidential data and correspondence related to national security, foreign policy, nuclear and aerospace. Criminals were also interested in financial data, personally identifiable information and intellectual property, for example, unpublished scientific research. In addition, Heidarian and Farhadi attacked and stole personal information from Iranian dissidents, human rights activists and opposition leaders.
According to the indictment, the Iranians were also involved in the distribution of malware, in particular keyloggers and Trojans for remote access, and created their own botnet for spam and DDoS attacks.
It is believed that some of the stolen data was sent to Iranian intelligence, and the rest was sold in underground markets. If caught, extradited to the United States and convicted, both hackers face more than 20 years in prison.
This week, the US authorities also charged five Chinese citizens and two Russians with hacking attacks .
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US authorities brought charges two Iranian nationals, allegedly to carry out cyber attacks in the interests of the Iranian government, as well as for personal financial gain.
According to the indictment, Human Heydarian and Mehdi Farhadi have carried out attacks since 2013 on various targets, including American and foreign universities, military contractors, NGOs and non-profit organizations, foreign ministries and other targets viewed as competitors or enemies of Iran. The attackers mainly targeted organizations in the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
According to prosecutors, Heydarian and Farhadi hacked victims' accounts, computers and internal networks, and stole confidential data and correspondence related to national security, foreign policy, nuclear and aerospace. Criminals were also interested in financial data, personally identifiable information and intellectual property, for example, unpublished scientific research. In addition, Heidarian and Farhadi attacked and stole personal information from Iranian dissidents, human rights activists and opposition leaders.
According to the indictment, the Iranians were also involved in the distribution of malware, in particular keyloggers and Trojans for remote access, and created their own botnet for spam and DDoS attacks.
It is believed that some of the stolen data was sent to Iranian intelligence, and the rest was sold in underground markets. If caught, extradited to the United States and convicted, both hackers face more than 20 years in prison.
This week, the US authorities also charged five Chinese citizens and two Russians with hacking attacks .
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