ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The US Department of Justice on Tuesday announced that it has indicted 17 members of the Iran-based Mabna Institute accused of conducting a "coordinated campaign of cyber intrusions" in hundreds of US and foreign universities, government agencies, and companies on behalf of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

"The superseding indictment alleges that, at the behest of entities including the IRGC, these defendants hacked into universities and other research institutions worldwide, including the United States, stealing at least 31 terabytes of information and intellectual property of untold value," said US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. 

According to the Justice Department, the accused are charged with hacking into the networks of "144 US-based universities, 178 foreign universities, at least 42 US-based private sector companies, at least 11 foreign private sector companies, at least five US federal and state government agencies, and at least two non-governmental organizations."

The Mabna Institute was founded in 2013 and were sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2018 on account of their alleged involvement in intellectual property theft, with the State Department offering rewards of up to $10 million for information leading to the capture of four high-level members of the institute.

"Today’s charges, which include eight additional defendants, reveal the broader network allegedly behind a sweeping, state-sponsored campaign to steal research and intellectual property from American universities, businesses, and government institutions," said US Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York.

Washington accused the group of having targeted the accounts of over 100,000 university professors worldwide from 2013 to at least December 2017, with the countries allegedly affected including Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

"The members of the conspiracy used stolen account credentials to obtain unauthorized access to victim professor accounts, which they used to steal research, and other academic data and documents," the Justice Department claimed.

The defendants are accused of having operated on behalf of and providing stolen information to the IRGC and other Iranian intelligence agencies.

Tehran and Washington have long battler one another through cyber operations, with pivotal moments including the alleged use of the 'Stuxnet' cyberweapon by the US and Israel to cause extensive disruption to Iran's nuclear program, with the virus reportedy having been installed at the Natanz nuclear site in 2009.

Similarly, in 2012 Iran was accused of conducting a denial-of-service attack on major US banks that caused tens of millions of dollars of damage.