--- title: US charges Iranian hackers over $3.4 billion... description: The U.S. Justice Department has charged 17 Iranians allegedly linked to the hacking-for-hire company Mabna Institute for a years-long campaign that stole... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/us-charges-iranian-hackers-over-3-4-billion-intellectual-property-theft-pehht426x twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: US charges Iranian hackers over $3.4 billion intellectual property theft | daily.dev og:description: The U.S. Justice Department has charged 17 Iranians allegedly linked to the hacking-for-hire company Mabna Institute for a years-long campaign that stole... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/us-charges-iranian-hackers-over-3-4-billion-intellectual-property-theft-pehht426x og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/peHHt426X.png og:image:alt: US charges Iranian hackers over $3.4 billion intellectual property theft og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # US charges Iranian hackers over $3.4 billion intellectual property theft **[BleepingComputer](https://daily.dev/sources/bleepingcomputer)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The U.S. Justice Department has charged 17 Iranians allegedly linked to the hacking-for-hire company Mabna Institute for a years-long campaign that stole academic research, intellectual property, and other data valued at roughly $3.4 billion. The operation, active since around 2013, targeted more than 100,000 professors worldwide, compromising about 8,000 accounts and stealing 31.5 terabytes of data from 178 universities (144 in the U.S.), over 53 private firms, two NGOs, and at least 10 U.S. state agencies. HBO was among the victims, having been extorted for $6 million in Bitcoin. The State Department is offering up to $10 million in rewards for information on the whereabouts of five named defendants, who face charges including conspiracy, wire fraud, and identity theft with penalties of up to 20 years in prison. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is the Mabna Institute and what did it steal from universities? Mabna Institute is an Iranian hacking-for-hire company whose members were charged by the U.S. Justice Department for stealing academic research and intellectual property. Since around 2013, the group targeted over 100,000 professors worldwide, compromised about 8,000 accounts, and stole 31.5 terabytes of data including journals, theses, dissertations, and ebooks, valued at approximately $3.4 billion. _daily.dev surfaces security investigations like this for teams tracking nation-state threats to research data._ ### How many organizations were affected by the Mabna Institute hacking campaign? The campaign impacted 178 universities (144 in the U.S.), at least 53 private firms (42 in the U.S.), two NGOs, and at least 10 U.S. state agencies. One notable victim was HBO, which was extorted for $6 million worth of Bitcoin after being hacked by one of the defendants, Behzad Mesri. _Security teams follow breach scope details like these on daily.dev to gauge exposure risk._ ### What rewards has the U.S. government offered for information on the Iranian Mabna Institute hackers? The State Department is offering rewards of up to $10 million for information leading to the whereabouts of five defendants: Behzad Mesri, Mojtaba Galekuhi, Arman Kahzadian, Keyvan Fayaz, and Saber Shahbazi Ballojeh. A Tor link was also provided for anonymous submissions, and all 17 defendants face charges including conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft carrying up to 20 years in prison. _daily.dev keeps security-minded readers current on how law enforcement pursues state-sponsored attackers._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [U.S. offers $10 million for hackers targeting WhatsApp, Signal users](https://daily.dev/posts/u-s-offers-10-million-for-hackers-targeting-whatsapp-signal-users-y9rts10hg) · BleepingComputer · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [US charges Russian ‘bulletproof’ web hosts over cyberattacks that netted $62M from cybercrime victims](https://daily.dev/posts/us-charges-russian-bulletproof-web-hosts-over-cyberattacks-that-netted-62m-from-cybercrime-victim-y2jdxrd3p) · TechCrunch · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [US government body paid $1M in data-theft extortion](https://daily.dev/posts/us-government-body-paid-1m-in-data-theft-extortion-4hd7w5qat) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [U.S. Sanctions 10 North Korean Entities for Laundering $12.7M in Crypto and IT Fraud](https://daily.dev/posts/u-s-sanctions-10-north-korean-entities-for-laundering-12-7m-in-crypto-and-it-fraud-7khowcqip) · The Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#phishing](https://daily.dev/tags/phishing), [#data-breach](https://daily.dev/tags/data-breach) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/us-charges-iranian-hackers-over-3-4-billion-intellectual-property-theft-pehht426x) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"US charges Iranian hackers over $3.4 billion intellectual property theft","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/us-charges-iranian-hackers-over-3-4-billion-intellectual-property-theft-pehht426x","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/us-charges-iranian-hackers-over-3-4-billion-intellectual-property-theft-pehht426x"},"datePublished":"2026-08-19T15:58:01.837Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T16:49:35.899Z","description":"The U.S. Justice Department has charged 17 Iranians allegedly linked to the hacking-for-hire company Mabna Institute for a years-long campaign that stole...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c8f34e463315e3fad2970d9c5497fd66?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c8f34e463315e3fad2970d9c5497fd66?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"BleepingComputer","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"BleepingComputer","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--as8nJ3qy--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774959951/logos/bleepingcomputer?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/bleepingcomputer"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/us-charges-iranian-hackers-over-3-4-billion-intellectual-property-theft-pehht426x","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"phishing,data-breach","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BleepingComputer","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/bleepingcomputer"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"US charges Iranian hackers over $3.4 billion intellectual property theft"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/us-charges-iranian-hackers-over-3-4-billion-intellectual-property-theft-pehht426x#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the Mabna Institute and what did it steal from universities?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Mabna Institute is an Iranian hacking-for-hire company whose members were charged by the U.S. Justice Department for stealing academic research and intellectual property. Since around 2013, the group targeted over 100,000 professors worldwide, compromised about 8,000 accounts, and stole 31.5 terabytes of data including journals, theses, dissertations, and ebooks, valued at approximately $3.4 billion. daily.dev surfaces security investigations like this for teams tracking nation-state threats to research data."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How many organizations were affected by the Mabna Institute hacking campaign?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The campaign impacted 178 universities (144 in the U.S.), at least 53 private firms (42 in the U.S.), two NGOs, and at least 10 U.S. state agencies. One notable victim was HBO, which was extorted for $6 million worth of Bitcoin after being hacked by one of the defendants, Behzad Mesri. Security teams follow breach scope details like these on daily.dev to gauge exposure risk."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What rewards has the U.S. government offered for information on the Iranian Mabna Institute hackers?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The State Department is offering rewards of up to $10 million for information leading to the whereabouts of five defendants: Behzad Mesri, Mojtaba Galekuhi, Arman Kahzadian, Keyvan Fayaz, and Saber Shahbazi Ballojeh. A Tor link was also provided for anonymous submissions, and all 17 defendants face charges including conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft carrying up to 20 years in prison. daily.dev keeps security-minded readers current on how law enforcement pursues state-sponsored attackers."}}]} ```