9 Iranians charged with massive hacking of 320 universities in the US

On Friday, the White House announced criminal charges and sanctions against nine government backed Iranians involved in a hacking scheme. They tried to walk away with some of the confidential information from hundreds of universities, private companies and American government agencies.

With a motive of stealing expensive research, these nine accused tried to hack into 320 universities in the US. 

They have also accused the hackers of forcefully breaking into the secured government organisation sectors like Department of Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and also private sectors like entities including technology companies and law and consulting firms. 

In a statement, the FBI Director Christopher Wray said, "Today, not only are we publicly identifying the foreign hackers who committed these malicious cyber intrusions, but we are also sending a powerful message to their backers, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran: your acts do not go unnoticed."

He also added that they will protect their innovation, ideas and information, and will use every tool to expose those who commit these cybercrimes. 

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