The United States has indicted and sanctioned four Iranian nationals for their alleged roles in various attacks on American companies and government departments, all of whom allegedly worked for fake companies linked to Iran's military.
Why the US is Vulnerable to an Iranian Cyber Attack | WSJ
Reza Kazemifar, Komeil Baradaran Salmani and Alireza Shafie Nasab were all said to have once been employed by Mehrsam Andisheh Saz Nik (MASN), formerly known as Mahak Rayan Afraz – a company that claimed to offer cyber security services but is instead believed to have acted as a front for the attacks against the United States.
Hossein Harooni is said to have been employed by a separate front company also affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a group responsible for, among other things, Iran's state-sponsored cyber activity. The IRGC was also designated a foreign terrorist organization in the United States in 2019, and the EU has been considering a similar designation for some time.
All four and other co-conspirators are alleged to have been part of an organized effort to carry out multiple computer breaches between at least 2016 and 2021. More than a dozen US companies were targeted, as well as the US Departments of State and Treasury.
