{"id":49797,"date":"2026-08-20T20:27:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T20:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=49797"},"modified":"2026-08-20T20:27:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T20:27:54","slug":"iranian-hacking-crew-charged-in-sprawling-theft-case-including-6m-bitcoin-ransom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=49797","title":{"rendered":"Iranian Hacking Crew Charged in Sprawling Theft Case \u2014 Including $6M Bitcoin Ransom\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine<\/a>
\n
\nIranian Hacking Crew Charged in Sprawling Theft Case \u2014 Including $6M Bitcoin Ransom\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Feds have hit 17 Iranians with criminal charges for allegedly conducting a years-long campaign of cyber attacks \u2014 including trying to extort HBO for $6 million in bitcoin.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Justice said<\/a> Tuesday that the 17 individuals were working with the Mabna Institute, which carried out hacking campaigns on \u200bbehalf of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian \u200bgovernment and university clients.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of U.S. and \u2060international universities, dozens of companies, and at least five \u200bstate and federal government agencies were targeted in the campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Part of the indictment mentioned Behzad Mesri, who was previously charged with hacking entertainment giant Home Box Office \u2014 HBO \u2014 and stealing proprietary data. The crime then saw Mesri try and extort approximately $6 million worth of Bitcoin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors added that five other defendants \u2014 Saeid Houshyar, Manouchehr Hashemloo, Keyvan Fayaz, Saber Shahbazi Ballojeh, and Arman Kahzadian \u2014 were directly involved in the hack.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The State Department\u2019s Rewards for Justice program is now offering up to $10 million for information on the location of the defendants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s charges, which include eight additional defendants, reveal the broader network allegedly behind a sweeping, state-sponsored campaign to steal research and intellectual property from American universities, businesses, and government institutions,\u201d U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Founded around 2013 by Gholamreza Rafatnejad and Ehsan Mohammadi, the Mabna Institute allegedly worked at the behest of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian clients.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The stolen research didn\u2019t just go to Tehran\u2019s intelligence services. Prosecutors say it was resold through two websites, Megapaper.ir and Gigapaper.ir, the latter renting out hijacked professor logins so Iranian customers could walk straight into foreign university libraries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

U.S. institutions had spent some $3.4 billion acquiring the material in the first place. Separate victims racked up more than $20 million cleaning up the breaches.<\/p>\n

This post Iranian Hacking Crew Charged in Sprawling Theft Case \u2014 Including $6M Bitcoin Ransom\u00a0<\/a> first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine<\/a> and is written by Mathew Di Salvo<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine Iranian Hacking Crew Charged in Sprawling Theft Case \u2014 Including $6M Bitcoin Ransom\u00a0 Feds have hit 17 Iranians with criminal charges for allegedly conducting a years-long campaign of cyber attacks \u2014 including trying to extort HBO for $6 million in bitcoin. The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday that the 17 individuals were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bitcoin"],"yoast_head":"\nIranian Hacking Crew Charged in Sprawling Theft Case \u2014 Including $6M Bitcoin Ransom\u00a0 - Cryptomag<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptomag.finance\/?p=49797\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Iranian Hacking Crew Charged in Sprawling Theft Case \u2014 Including $6M Bitcoin Ransom\u00a0 - Cryptomag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bitcoin Magazine Iranian Hacking Crew Charged in Sprawling Theft Case \u2014 Including $6M Bitcoin Ransom\u00a0 Feds have hit 17 Iranians with criminal charges for allegedly conducting a years-long campaign of cyber attacks \u2014 including trying to extort HBO for $6 million in bitcoin. 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