Iranian Cyber Theft Charges
United States Charges 17 Iranians for State-Sponsored Cyber Theft Campaign Targeting Global Institutions
Key Points
The Mabna Institute was founded around 2013 by Gholamreza Rafatnejad and Ehsan Mohammadi to obtain unauthorized access to non-Iranian scientific data.
The case is a 14-count superseding indictment charging 17 Mabna Institute members, with eight new defendants added to the 2018 charges; the matter is before U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman in the Southern District of New York.
The operation targeted a broad set of victims, including the Department of Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the United Nations, with about 8,000 professor email accounts breached across U.S. and international universities; universities faced roughly $3.4 billion in costs to procure access to the stolen data.
Stolen materials were distributed via two Iran-based sites, Megapaper.ir and Gigapaper.ir, where customers in Iran could purchase stolen research or gain direct access to compromised university library networks, with exfiltrated records transferred to overseas servers.
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 17 Iranian nationals with a sweeping cyber-theft campaign that hit 144 American universities, 178 foreign universities, and dozens of private companies and government agencies, according to Reuters. The hackers allegedly stole more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property — costing targeted institutions roughly $3.4 billion to replace.
The defendants all worked for the Mabna Institute, an Iran-based group that prosecutors say carried out hacking on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. A superseding indictment — filed in the Southern District of New York before Judge Jesse M. Furman — adds eight new defendants to the nine already charged in 2018, bringing the total to 17, Reuters reports.
How the Mabna Institute Built a Global Hacking Machine
Gholamreza Rafatnejad and Ehsan Mohammadi founded the Mabna Institute around 2013. Their goal was simple: steal non-Iranian scientific research without paying for it. The group targeted professors first, breaching about 8,000 university email accounts across the U.S. and abroad, according to JNS.
From there, hackers moved into university library systems and pulled out research papers, journal articles, and technical data. The stolen material covered fields from engineering and medicine to social sciences. Prosecutors say the IRGC and other Iranian government clients received the stolen research as intelligence, per WANA.
Stolen Research Sold Openly on Two Iranian Websites
The Mabna network didn't just hoard stolen data — it sold it. Two Iran-based websites, Megapaper.ir and Gigapaper.ir, let customers in Iran buy stolen academic papers or log directly into hacked university library systems, according to Reuters. Stolen records were also moved to overseas servers to avoid detection.
Universities bore the heaviest costs. Prosecutors estimate institutions spent around $3.4 billion trying to recover or repurchase access to data the hackers had already taken. Israeli universities were among those targeted, JNS reported, making the campaign truly global in scope.
Federal Agencies and the UN Also Caught in the Net
The campaign went far beyond universities. Hackers also hit more than 42 private companies and several government bodies. Targets included the Department of Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the United Nations, according to Head Topics.
Five U.S. federal and state government agencies were breached in total. Prosecutors say employee email accounts at private firms were also compromised and used to gather intelligence. The 14-count indictment frames the entire operation as a deliberate, state-sponsored effort — not the work of rogue hackers.
DOJ Signals It Will Keep Pursuing Iran-Linked Cyber Cases
Nine of the 17 defendants faced charges back in 2018. The new superseding indictment shows U.S. prosecutors are not letting the case go cold. All 17 defendants remain at large, believed to be inside Iran, which has no extradition treaty with the United States, per Reuters.
Still, U.S. officials say the charges send a clear message. The DOJ has anchored the case in New York's Southern District and signaled it will pursue Iran-linked cyber operations across jurisdictions. The Mabna case stands as one of the largest state-sponsored academic theft operations ever prosecuted by the United States, WANA noted.
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