The Department of Justice on Wednesday unsealed an August indictment of three Iranian nationals who officials said are behind an international ransomware conspiracy that has targeted hundreds of corporate and government victims around the world for at least two years, CNBC reported.
The three men allegedly defrauded a township in New Jersey, a county in Wyoming, a regional electric power company in Mississippi and another in Indiana, a public housing authority in Washington state, and a statewide bar association in an unnamed state.
Threat Actors Attack Based On Personal Interest
The DOJ stated that the number of individuals who fell victim was over one hundred. The officer also maintained that this figure would likely increase when more victims come out.
The defendants: Mansour Ahmadi, Ahmad Khatibi Aghda and Amir Hossein Nickaein Ravari – are residents of Iran. Nonetheless, as per reports from CNBC, security personnel are yet to arrest these individuals. However, officers admitted that U.S. regulatory enforcement has few alternatives available to detain them in person.
Three people achieved alleged cyber assaults for private gain and not under the course of the Iranian authorities, DOJ officers stated.
But it quickly became clear that the connection between Iran’s authorities and the three alleged cyber criminals was more complicated than it had initially appeared.
US Treasury Blacklists Bitcoin Addresses Allegedly Tied to Iran Ransomware Attacks
The U.S. Treasury Department brought nine people and six bitcoin addresses to its blacklist Wednesday, below its cyber-associated designations bucket.
They tied the addresses to two individuals – Amir Hossein Nikaeen Ravari and Ahmad Khatibi Aghada – who allegedly helped broaden and set up ransomware as participants of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
in line with a press launch posted via way of means of the Treasury Department. The sanctioning got here as U.S. authorities officers charged 3 people with hacking-associated crimes.
Alongside Mansour Ahmadi, Nikaeen Ravari and Aghada allegedly broke into masses of U.S. corporations and deployed ransomware to numerous of those entities, including U.S. infrastructure entities, the Justice Department claimed.
However, the people are a part of a hacker organization that focuses on hospitals, transportation corporations, and colleges with ransomware.
Treasury officials stated in a press statement. It in addition accused the organization of mounting a cyberattack in opposition to a rural electric-powered utility corporation in October 2021.
