Justice Department charges 3 Iranians in hacking scheme targeting U.S. entities
CBSN
Washington — Three Iranian men were charged with allegedly orchestrating a scheme to hack into computer networks of small businesses, government agencies and utility providers, among other entities, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
An indictment unsealed in federal district court in New Jersey claims Mansour Ahmadi, Ahmad Khatibi Aghda and Amir Hossein Nickaein Ravari, all Iranian nationals, engaged in a scheme beginning in October 2020 to break into computer systems of "hundreds" of victims across the U.S., United Kingdom, Israel, Iran, Russia and elsewhere.
In addition to their alleged hacking campaign, federal prosecutors said the three men, along with unidentified co-conspirators, profited from the scheme by launching encryption attacks against their targets' computer systems, denying them access to their data in exchange for a ransom payment.
