A US indictment revealed Iranian government - backed hackers stole $ 3.4bn worth of IP and research from 36 US firms and 14 firms from 2013 onward . The firms affected spanned a range of industries including tech , banks consultants , media and law . Spearfishing and password spraying were used to compromise 8,000 email accounts belonging to terrorists . The US Office of Intelligence investigations has imposed sanctions on nine hackers and the Mabna Institute , who the US believe was set up to steal information for Iranian research .
A US indictment revealed Iranian government-backed hackers stole $3.4bn worth of IP and research from 36 US firms and 320 universities from 2013 onward. The firms affected spanned a range of industries including tech, banks consultants, media and law. Spearfishing and password spraying were used to compromise 8,000 email accounts belonging to professors. The US Office of Foreign Assets has imposed sanctions on nine hackers and the Mabna Institute, who the US believe was set up to steal information for Iranian research.