The Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against 10 individuals and two entities associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for their role in malicious cyberattacks.
This group of Iran-based hackers has been compromising networks in the United States and abroad since at least 2020, the Treasury Department said in a statement announcing the sanctions on Wednesday morning.
They have allegedly launched “extensive campaigns” against organizations and specific officials across the globe, but particularly in the U.S. and Middle East. The hackers are known for exploiting software vulnerabilities to carry out their illicit activities, in addition to accessing computers without authorization, extracting data, and other malicious activities.
UKRAINE SAYS IT SHOT DOWN RUSSIAN-ACQUIRED IRANIAN DRONE IN KHARKIV
“Ransomware actors and other cybercriminals, regardless of their national origin or base of operations, have targeted businesses and critical infrastructure across the board—directly threatening the physical security and economy of the United States and other nations,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “We will continue to take coordination action with our global partners to combat and deter ransomware threats, including those associated with the IRGC.”
These hackers launched a cyberattack against a municipality in New Jersey in February 2021. During the attack, they used their access to create unauthorized accounts and used a proxy to establish long-term remote access to a particular domain. They launched a different attack in March and April of that year, in which they were able to encrypt a network and hold the decryption for ransom.
“Concurrently with these designations, the Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program, which is administered by the Diplomatic Security Service, is highlighting three individuals under its reward offer for information on foreign malicious cyber activity against U.S. critical infrastructure,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “Under this reward offer, the Department is offering up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of any person who, while acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign government, participates in malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.”
Earlier this week, Blinken acknowledged that U.S. and Iranian negotiations on reentry into the 2015 Iranian Nuclear Agreement have stalled, even after there appeared to be some breakthroughs last month.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Iran’s response to the proposal put forward by the European Union is clearly a step backward and makes prospects for an agreement in the near term, I would say, unlikely,” he explained. “Iran seems either unwilling or unable to do what is necessary to reach an agreement, and they continue to try to introduce extraneous issues to the negotiation that make an agreement less likely.”
It’s unclear how long both sides will continue to pursue reentry into the deal, though Biden has staked significant foreign policy resources into reentering the deal then-President Donald Trump withdrew from four years ago.
