US Indicts 17 Iranians Over Years-Long Cyber Espionage Campaign
The US charged 17 Iranians over a years-long hacking campaign that stole 31TB from universities, companies and government agencies worldwide. Eight years after the original indictment first went public, US prosecutors just added eight more names to the list. The Justice Department unsealed a superseding indictment this week charging 17 members of the Mabna Institute, […]

Eight years after the original indictment first went public, US prosecutors just added eight more names to the list. The Justice Department unsealed a superseding indictment this week charging 17 members of the Mabna Institute, an Iran-based operation running hacking campaigns since at least 2013 on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other government and university clients.
According to DoJ, the group compromised systems at 144 US universities and 178 foreign ones, plus at least 42 US private companies, 11 foreign companies, five federal and state government agencies, and two nongovernmental organizations. They pulled more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property out of those systems, along with entire employee email inboxes wherever they had access.
Related breach coverage
- US charges Iranians for sprawling hacking campaign on government agencies, universities2026-08-19
The Justice Department accused 17 alleged hackers with ties to the Iranian government of breaching email accounts at U.S. government agencies and stealing intellectual property from dozens of universities.
- Members of ‘Black Axe’ cybercriminal group extradited from South Africa2026-09-14
Prosecutors unsealed a 2021 indictment accusing the five men of conducting lucrative romance scams that stole thousands of dollars from more than 100 people.
- Anthropic caught Russia-linked spies using Claude in hacking operations2026-09-11
Anthropic detected and disrupted a Russia-linked cyber-espionage group that used its AI tool Claude in a hacking campaign targeting more than 20 government, intelligence, diplomatic and defense organizations.
- US Charges 17 Iranian Hackers, Offers $10 Million Rewards for 5 of Them2026-08-19
The 17 members of the Mabna Institute targeted hundreds of universities and organizations in the US and abroad. The post US Charges 17 Iranian Hackers, Offers $10 Million Rewards for 5 of Them appeared first on SecurityWeek.