Via NY Post: More than six Iranians will be slapped with criminal charges for helping their government allegedly hack into the systems of a New York dam and nearly 50 major U.S. financial institutions, The Post has learned.
Under a federal indictment, the hackers will be charged Thursday with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and unauthorized access to a protected computer, sources said. U.S. officials will hold a news conference Thursday morning in Washington D.C. to announce the charges on the Iranians’ 2012-2013 campaign of cyberattacks, sources said.
Through its investigation, the FBI learned that the hackers gained access to back office systems at the Bowman Avenue Dam in Rye Brook, NY, but failed to breach the operational systems, sources said. Probers believe that the cyberattack was only a test run.
The defendants also “planned and executed large-scale cyberattacks against nearly 50 major financial instructions in the U.S. in coordination and at the behest of the government of Iran,” a source confirmed.
For years, the Obama Administration has been plagued by an ever-increasing amount of cyberattacks against American interests. Hackers have breached systems in the White House, State Department, FBI and US Postal Service, just to name a few.
Most notably, the Justice Department leveled charges against Chinese military personnel linked to a series of intrusions of U.S. industrial companies. And last year, the FBI publicly blamed North Korea for the devastating cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment.
DCG