The U.S Department of State’s “Rewards for Justice” program has announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of 17 members of an Iranian hacking group, their associates, or their activities.

According to a post on the Rewards for Justice X page, these individuals are affiliated with the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The group targeted various sectors of U.S critical infrastructure.

The members named in the indictment include Saber Shahbazi, Arman Kahzadian, Mojtaba Ghalekohi, Keyvan Fayyaz, and Behzad Mesri. They are accused of participating in an extensive, organized campaign of cyber theft.

Interestingly, one of the key members of this group is Behzad Mesri, who is also linked to the Mabna Institute. We have previously reported on him and his activities, which you can read here.

Based on the case documents, the Mabna Institute targeted 144 American universities and 178 foreign universities. Additionally, at least five U.S federal and state government agencies and two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were targeted in this broad cyberattack campaign. As a result, more than 31 terabytes of scientific data and intellectual property – including specialized articles, theses, and e-books – were stolen. The U.S estimates that the value of the resources universities spent to acquire and access this data at approximately $3.4 billion.

In 2017, Behzad Mesri (using the alias “Silence of Terror”) and a few others successfully breached HBO, stealing about 1.5 terabytes of data. He demanded roughly $6 million in Bitcoin to ransom the data, eventually releasing some of the stolen information online after the negotiation.

The U.S Department of State announced that anyone with information can contact them via their TOR browser-based reporting channel.