According to Iran International, an Iranian citizen named Amir Barati was arrested last week in Montenegro. He is accused of leading a widespread hacking campaign that targeted over 130 universities, with the attacks estimated to have caused around $3.4 billion in damages.
According to announcements from the U.S. Federal Police and Motenegrin local police, 39 year old Barati was arrested in the city of Kotor, Montenegro, as part of a joint operation between the two security agencies.
Barati, who holds dual Iranian-Turkish citizenship, is known as a key member of the group “Silent Librarian.” It is worth noting that Silent Librarian is an advanced persistent Iranian threat group that has previously stolen valuable research data from various university networks. U.S. officials claim that this stolen information was used to benefit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The U.S. District Court has announced that Barati also faces other charges including computer fraud, hacking attacks, and identity theft. Reports indicate that this hacking campaign began in 2013 and involved a systematic effort to compromise university networks across the United States.
While Barati is linked to “Silent Librarian”, his name wasn’t included in the list of nine suspects for the 2018 campaign. Barati’s arrest is considered a significant victory for U.S. cybersecurity organizations and demonstrated the ongoing threat posed by cyber actors supported by the Iranian regime. This criminal case will now be referred to the High Court for extradition proceedings.
