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WASHINGTON – The Justice Department on Thursday released an indictment in August of three Iranian nationals who officials say were behind an international ransomware plot that targeted hundreds of corporate and business victims. governments around the world.
The three individuals allegedly carried out the plot for their own personal gain, and not at the behest of the Iranian government, ministry officials said in a call with reporters.
The defendants are Mansour Ahmadi, Ahmad Khatibi Aghda and Amir Hossein Nickaein Ravari, all believed to be living in Iran. None of them were arrested, and officials conceded that US law enforcement had few options for detaining them.
The men are accused of defrauding a Wyoming county, regional power facilities in Mississippi and Indiana, public housing authorities in Washington state, and the Statewide Bar Association in a hidden state. the name of the United States.
DOJ officials say they believe the number of victims in the US alone is in the hundreds, with even more likely to be identified in the future.
The plan is based on Bitlocker, a popular Microsoft cybersecurity encryption product used by thousands of customers worldwide.
Justice Department officials declined to disclose details of how they were alerted to individual ransomware attacks, or specifically which targeted organizations contacted authorities and which organizations did not. .
It’s a little secret that corporations hit by ransomware often choose to pay the attackers a ransom instead of notifying law enforcement out of fear that news of the attack will scare investors. investors and customers panic.
The Justice Department has struggled for decades to convince victims of cyberattacks that they would be better served by reporting the attack than by covering it up.
