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U.S. Indicts 7 Iranians Accused of Hacking U.S. Financial Institutions (npr.org)

Posted by BeauHD on from the time-to-take-a-trip-downtown dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted seven Iranians with intelligence links over a series of crippling cyberattacks against 46 U.S. financial institutions between 2011 and 2013. The indictment, which was unsealed Thursday, also accuses one of the Iranians of remotely accessing the control system of a small dam in Rye, N.Y, during the same period. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the indictment is meant to send a message: "That we will not allow any individual, group, or nation to sabotage American financial institutions or undermine the integrity of fair competition in the operation of the free market." According to the indictment, the seven men worked for two Iran-based computer security companies that have done work for the Iranian government, including the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The men allegedly carried out large-scale distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, which overwhelm a server with communications in order to disable it.

45 comments

  1. "...we will not allow..." by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    except this time.

  2. US is a wheening child by johanw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Considering the massive sabotage they inflicted in Iran, why would the Iranians even care? I assume Iran can now indict some NSA employees?

    1. Re:US is a wheening child by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Iran = EastAsia
      Iraq = EurAsia

      Or was it the other way around?

    2. Re:US is a wheening child by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I assume Iran can now indict some NSA employees?

      Sure, why not? This is all just theater anyway. These indictments will have no effect whatsoever, since the indicted Iranians are living in Iran and not subject to American jurisdiction. If anything, they are probably happy to be indicted, since it means their hard work is being recognized, they will now be lauded as heroes, and maybe they will even be able to get a date (or an arranged marriage).

    3. Re:US is a wheening child by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "get a date ( or an arranged marriage)"

      Silly rabbit, every good rag head knows a woman is either purchased or traded.

    4. Re:US is a wheening child by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      Political theater is always amusing. But the one question that I have is, "Were the sites hit using Windows?" And really, who gets gives a flying foxtrot if Goldman Sachs is here tomorrow?

    5. Re:US is a wheening child by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can make stuff up too: Every rock knows a potato is a carrot !

    6. Re: US is a wheening child by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Prove that he wasn't making that up. From
      What I understand this still happens a lot.

    7. Re:US is a wheening child by DriveDog · · Score: 1

      Funny you don't hear about indictments for Chinese crackers.

      Seems to me that partially successful stuff is doing us a favor (aside from taking out Goldman Sachs) in that losses are relatively low and it encourages hardening. Plus it makes it easy to monitor what they're up to and what their capabilities are. The scariest hacks are the ones from unknown sources using unknown exploits kept secret until an opportune moment.

    8. Re:US is a wheening child by parkinglot777 · · Score: 1

      Iran = EastAsia

      What? East Asia??? I didn't realize that the sun rises in Iran BEFORE India (around middle Asia)??? If you are talking about "Middle East," then it is a whole different story.

  3. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When US hacks Iran's industrial sites, that's A-OK! When the Iranians hack something back it's a crime.

    1. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you think espionage works?

      It's all about doing shit you're supposedly not supposed to be doing and then claiming it was "rogue elements" if you get caught.

    2. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The one with the biggest guns makes the law. The NSA hacks US citizens all the time, but if you are a US citizen and you get caught hacking the NSA, good luck with that.

    3. Re:Really? by khasim · · Score: 1

      And didn't it turn out that that dam wasn't even connected to the Internet? And that the "problem" was that it had NEVER worked?

      Ooooh! Scary Iranians can DoS our systems. Just like any 12 year old with a copy of Low Orbit Ion Cannon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Orbit_Ion_Cannon

      First Obama demands that encryption be b0rked for US citizens and now this?

    4. Re: Really? by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 1

      Absolutely. The police can arrest people and put them in jail. But when I kidnap people and put them in my basement dungeon, it's "illegal". Hypocrisy at it's worst.

    5. Re:Really? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Do you even understand that countries are allowed to take actions that are in their own interest? And defend themselves against hostile nations? Seriously? The Iranians are likewise free to do the same, and face the consequences. That's how the game is played, for fuck's sake. Instead we have this situation whenever America does something it is always wrong, because to say otherwise might give aid and comfort to the enemy - Americans.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    6. Re:Really? by dywolf · · Score: 1

      Keep talking junior.
      You're only digging your well of incoherent ignorance deeper.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    7. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      your analogy is incomplete because the omission of the rule of law allows your joke. but it would be more funny to point out the feasible situations where you would be more aligned with western jurisprudence (at least historically) using your dungeon for a just cause compared to the lawless acts of the government. My guess is that reality is too painful for you, hence the boorish joke.

    8. Re:Really? by kwbauer · · Score: 0

      Well, let's see. The US hacked the Iranian government (or government contractors if you believe such a thing really exists there) and the Iranians hacked private businesses. Only a Sanders supporter will fail to see the difference between a government and private business.

    9. Re:Really? by bfpierce · · Score: 1

      Why would the US indict it's own intelligence agencies, that's now how this works.

  4. So when does Iran indict the US for Stuxnet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The subject says it all....

  5. How many by Livius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...indictments for the Wall Street gamblers who not only tried but actually did "sabotage American financial institutions or undermine the integrity of fair competition in the operation of the free market".

    1. Re:How many by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...indictments for the Wall Street gamblers who not only tried but actually did "sabotage American financial institutions or undermine the integrity of fair competition in the operation of the free market".

      Sad, moderators marked you as Funny. The Banksters nearly destroy the world economy and got away with it. In a just world, they'd get a fair trial before their execution for crimes against humanity.

    2. Re:How many by Livius · · Score: 1

      Maybe we need a "Tragic" moderation.

  6. Threadjack, skip April fools by Snotnose · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's getting to be that time of year, April 1, where this site (and others) post really stupid crap because either A) someone thought it was funny; or B) someone thought they should think it funny even though it's not. Trust me, it's very seldom funny.

    In the spirit of the Trump/Sanders campaigns can I ask that /. skip the annual "post a bunch of stupid stuff all day long".

    Can I make a poll of this?

    1. Re: Threadjack, skip April fools by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This post belongs on April Fools day!

    2. Re:Threadjack, skip April fools by Iamthecheese · · Score: 2

      I had fun once. It was terrible.

      --
      If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
    3. Re:Threadjack, skip April fools by khchung · · Score: 1

      Seconded. I skip /. the whole day of 1st April every year for that reason.

      Maybe they will care when they see the hit rates drop to the bottom, otherwise I don't hold any hope it will change.

      --
      Oliver.
    4. Re:Threadjack, skip April fools by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... "post a bunch of stupid stuff all day long".

      Then we won't know what politicians think.

  7. The Free Market?? by mrclevesque · · Score: 1

    "we will not allow any individual, group, or nation to ... undermine the integrity of fair competition in the operation of the free market"

    What *are* they talking about

  8. Utter bullshit by Iamthecheese · · Score: 1

    I wish I were smart enough to figure out what's going on behind the scenes aside from not letting even a minor crisis go to waste. After Benghazi, Syria, ISIS, and Russia... with China fucking around in Africa, Germany fucking around in Greece... the whole eastern Europe orgy and the US sticking its dong in every ass there are spy games of Byzantinian proportions, that I do know. Another thing I know is this has nothing to do with Iranian system breakers. But I wish I knew what is really going on.

    And I wish I weren't being fed a line about it. Please. I know my intelligence is limited but show a little respect for it. Just the little it deserves.

    --
    If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
    1. Re:Utter bullshit by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 1

      I wish I were smart enough to figure out what's going on behind the scenes...

      Sometimes I wish I was dumb enough to not wander about such things. I'm starting to believe that ignorance truly is bliss.

    2. Re:Utter bullshit by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      Dude, not that complicated ... everybody is fucking with almost everybody else ... and the people you're not fucking with, you probably have allies who are fucking with them and sharing the information with you.

      And then everybody is acting outraged at the other guys who are fucking with them, while kinda sorta denying in a half-assed way that they're doing the same thing.

      Every now and then to stroke their own ego or boost a little nationalism, they point at someone else and say "hey, you're fucking with us, and we won't stand for it".

      The only difference between now and before is it happens much faster, and people can just claim it was someone else, and nobody gets shot at.

      Don't go looking for some grand plan, just a bunch of schemers all doing the same thing to one another.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  9. Trump you like to mess with water well we can to by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 0

    Trump you like to mess with water well we can to!

    Some waterboarding will get the info out of you.

  10. NUET 'EM! NEUT 'EM NOW! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whatcha waitin for!

  11. 3 Cheers! by DaMattster · · Score: 2

    I might be the only one cheering this on but America's financial institutions had this coming. Payback for fucking over the 99%. Ain't karma a fickle whore?

    1. Re:3 Cheers! by humptheElephant · · Score: 1

      They sure did and as another poster said, they weren't even prosecuted.

    2. Re:3 Cheers! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      we will not allow any individual, group, or nation to sabotage American financial institutions or undermine the integrity of fair competition in the operation of the free market."

      LOLs that's hilarious right? What integrity of fair competition: when favored HFT is practically insider trading

      The SIP time stamps aren't just false when delayed—they are always false. The SIP applies a time stamp that is always later than the actual time of the quote, generally by the millisecond or two it takes for the quote to travel from an exchange to, and be processed by, the SIP. The trading advantage enjoyed by insiders is larger than subscribers may be led to believe.

      And where also is the fair competition when favored flash traders get $$$$$$ unhindered while the small fry get charged/prosecuted?
      The Trader as Scapegoat
      Norwegian traders convicted for outsmarting US stock broker algorithm
      p.s. yes I know the Norwegians got acquitted in the end but they got convicted first and had to appeal etc.

  12. Uh, yeah, right. by jenningsthecat · · Score: 2

    ...undermine the integrity of fair competition in the operation of the free market."

    By all means prosecute the people committing cybercrime, regardless of what country they're from. But please don't thump your chest and run off at the mouth about "Truth, Justice, and The American Way" when all you're doing is protecting the home-grown crooks and their scams from the foreign crooks and their scams.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  13. Security Theater by Required+Snark · · Score: 1
    This is a theatrical event put on for people in the US and to a lessor extent, Europe.

    Since the US Government is spending so much on "security", they have to justify it by at least occasionally trying to catch somebody. As others have already pointed out, this has as much real world effect as putting a sign in you window telling the kids to stay off your lawn.

    Many of the cyber attacks against US institutions and infrastructure are state sponsored. Picking out a few individuals and blaming them is a bad joke. The only time it might have an impact is if they go to Europe or a strong ally of the US like Australia and are arrested. I doubt they are that stupid.

    Who is at fault for the horrible track record on cyber security in the US? How about the US Chamber of Commerce and the business interests it represents. Way back in 2012 the Obama administration tried to get a cyber security bill passed, and it got nowhere. It was viewed as being anti-business and government interference in private enterprise.

    Democrats overwhelmingly supported the legislation, but for Republicans, it meant a stark choice between competing constituencies: national security officials and business leaders. Even after the bill's backers made the standards voluntary, the Chamber of Commerce, which spends more on lobbying than any other trade group, opposed it.

    On Thursday, the Senate cyber-security bill failed to overcome a Republican-led filibuster. Analysts say the bill couldn't breach a wall of anti-regulatory sentiment that proved resistant to the dire warnings.

    The measure fell short of the 60-vote threshold needed to end debate, 52 to 46, with 40 Republicans joined by six Democrats voting in support of the filibuster.

    "Rarely have I been so disappointed in the Senate's failure to come to grips with a threat to our country," said Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee and one of the bill's chief sponsors, who had tried in vain to sway her GOP colleagues. Just four sided with her.

    Since then Obama has signed various executive orders, but they all boil down to voluntary participation outside the government. And since even government outsources the actual work, nothing has changed. That's what happened when the Office of Personal Management was hacked. The data was obtained from the contractor.

    So what has the Chamber of Commerce been doing since then? How about holding CyberSecurity Summits. I'm sure that Chinese, Russian and Iranian hackers have just given up because they know how impossible it will be to penetrate US organizations after they hold a "Summit".

    --
    Why is Snark Required?
    1. Re:Security Theater by whit3 · · Score: 1

      This is a theatrical event put on for people in the US and to a lessor[sic] extent, Europe.

      Oh, it's more than that. It's public notice that criminal misbehavior by the persons named has been uncovered, and that the US is NOT declaring war, but is seeking all normal cooperation (including extradition) of friendly nations in apprehending them. It's much more polite than Stuxnet, and isn't in response to treaty violations by a nation (like, the nonproliferation treaty violations that got Iran into past difficulties).

      Political fashions come and go, maybe Iran will extradite the miscreants some day. At the very least, it's gonna give rise to a few thoughtful moments, maybe even discussions.

    2. Re:Security Theater by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At the very least, it's gonna give rise to a few thoughtful moments, maybe even discussions.

      Iran is no friend of the United States and you're a fool to think that anything of lasting benefit can come from discussions with Iran. I have no doubt that they will break the current nuclear agreement as soon as it's convenient for them to do so. In fact, they've already broken it, but Obama and the Dems are too spineless to admit it to the American people.

  14. They are guilty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Regardless of what they actually did, because "hackers". It's the law!