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AdvertisementIranian
hackers with links to the Tehran government stole secrets from around 20
British universities in a 'massive' cyber attack on academics' computersAround
20 British universities targeted as hackers raided intellectual propertyUK and
US authorities said the cyber raids were state-sponsored by IranThought that
infamous Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps masterminded crimes
By Connor Boyd For
Mailonline
Published: 12:55 BST, 24 March 2018 | Updated: 18:17 BST,
24 March 2018
Iranian hackers
with links to the Tehran government stole secrets from British universities in
a series of cyber attacks on academics' computers, it has been revealed.
Hackers working for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) are accused of conducting massive state-sponsored cyber attacks
targeting 320 universities in 21 countries.
Around 20 British institutions were affected as hackers
raided intellectual property, a Whitehall source toldThe Daily Telegraph.
+2
Around 20 British institutions were affected and
intellectual property was targeted in a state-sponsored, global cyber attack
It's not clear which universities were hit or whether
specific academics were targeted.
The identity of nine Iranians accused of conducting the
government-backed crimes were revealed in US court papers made public yesterday.
The nine men are accused of working for the Mabna
Institute, an Iran-based company, which was acting under the direction of
Iran's revolutionary guard according to the court papers.
The National Cyber Security Centre said with 'high
confidence' the Mabna Institute was behind the attacks on British
universities.
The identity of nine Iranians accused of conducting the
government-backed crimes were revealed in US court papers made public yesterday
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US deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein said: 'These nine
Iranian nationals allegedly stole more than 31 terabytes of documents and data
from more than 140 American universities, 30 American companies, five American
government agencies, and also more than 176 universities in 21 foreign
countries.
'For many of these intrusions, the defendants acted at the
behest of the Iranian government and, specifically, the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps.'
The Mabna Institute was established in 2013, and US
prosecutors believe it was designed to help Iranian research organisations
steal information.
By targeting the email accounts of more than 100,000
professors worldwide, the hackers compromised about 8,000 of them, according to
the US justice department.
