Iranian nationals are suspected of breaking into industrial control systems (ICS) used by water utilities last year.
On Wednesday, the US Department of State declared that it would pay up to $10 million for information leading to the identification of multiple Iranian nationals who are suspected of breaking into industrial control systems (ICS).
The individuals targeted include Hamid Homayunfal, Hamid Reza Lashgarian, Mahdi Lashgarian, Reza Mohammad Amin Saberian, Milad Mansuri, and Mohammad Bagher Shirinkar. All of these individuals have ties to the Cyber-Electronic Command section of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
These people are thought to be the masterminds of the cyberattack organization Cyber Av3ngers, which attacked a Unitronics Vision programmable logic controller (PLC) owned by the Municipal Water Authority in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 2023. ICS at other US water companies was another target of the hackers.
The PLCs that were being targeted have only a weak default password protecting them from the internet.
Although Cyber Av3ngers presents itself as a hacktivist organization, the US thinks the group is actually an Iranian government front employed for hostile cyber activities.
The Treasury Department had already imposed sanctions on the members of the Cyber Av3ngers gang, for whom the US government has now revealed that it is offering a $10 million prize.
Additionally, the US recently offered $10 million in prizes for information on the operators and affiliates of the Alphv/BlackCat ransomware as well as a member of the APT45 hacking group from North Korea.
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