US Treasury designates Iranian cyber actors targeting US companies

WASHINGTON, The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two companies and four individuals Tuesday involved in malicious cyber activity on behalf of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC). A statement by the department said, "these actors targeted more than a dozen US companies and government entities through cyber operations, including spear phishing and malware attacks." "In conjunction with today's action, the US Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is unsealing an indictment against the four individuals for their roles in cyber activity targeting US entities," the statement said. "Iranian malicious cyber actors continue to target US companies and government entities in a coordinated, multi-pronged campaign intended to destabilize our critical infrastructure and cause harm to our citizens," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. "The Unite d States will continue to leverage our whole-of-government approach to expose and disrupt these networks' operations," Nelson added. Iranian cyber actors continue to target the United States using a wide range of malicious cyber activity, from conducting ransomware attacks against critical infrastructure to conducting spear phishing and other social engineering campaigns against individuals, companies, and government entities. The IRGC-CEC, one of the Iranian government organizations behind malicious cyber activity, works through a series of front companies to target the United States and several other countries. Today's action is being taken pursuant to the counterterrorism authority Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended. OFAC designated the IRGC-CEC, also known as the IRGC Electronic Warfare and Cyber Defense Organization, pursuant to E.O. 13606 on January 12, 2018, for being owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, the IRGC, which itself was designated pursuant to E.O. 13224 on October 13, 2017. In February 2024, OFAC designated six IRGC-CEC officials in response to recent cyber operations in which IRGC-affiliated cyber actors manipulated programmable logic controllers, which impacted critical infrastructure systems, including in the United States. Source: Kuwait News Agency