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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.

6 of 45 comments (clear)

  1. 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 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).

  2. 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: 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. 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".

  4. 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?