Seventeen Iranians linked to the Mabna Institute face charges in the US for a cyber espionage campaign that lasted from 2013 to December 2017. The group targeted 322 universities worldwide, including 144 in the US and 178 abroad, stealing roughly 31 to 31.5 terabytes of academic data valued at about $3.4 billion, according to prosecutors [1, 2, 3].

The Mabna Institute, founded in 2013 to help Iranian academics access foreign scientific resources, conducted attacks on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other government clients. They also targeted 42 US private companies, 11 European companies, and at least five US federal and state government agencies [1, 2, 3].

The campaign compromised approximately 8,000 professor email accounts worldwide. Nine of the 17 charged were previously indicted in a related case in March 2018 [1, 2].

US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jamie McDonald said, "Today’s charges reveal the broader network allegedly behind a sweeping, state-sponsored campaign to steal research and intellectual property from American universities, businesses, and government institutions." He described cyber operations as having "become a central instrument of national power", warning of their dangerous impact on US security and the economy [1, 3].

FBI Assistant Director James C Barnacle, Jr called the group "a serious threat to our national security" [1].

Some reports indicate the Mabna Institute also targeted the United Nations and attempted to extort the HBO network for $6 million in Bitcoin, though this is not mentioned in all US government filings [3]. Cybersecurity experts estimate the campaign cost victims more than $20 million in remediation [3].

The US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program offers up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of five alleged hackers involved in the scheme [1, 2, 3].

The Department of Justice unsealed the new charges on August 18, 2026. The case will proceed in the Southern District of New York, with further legal actions expected.