The USA's Department of Justice is preparing to accuse several Iranian citizens of performing a series of cyber attacks against US banks and a New York dam, according to Reuters.
The attacks took place in 2012 and 2013, but it has taken until now for the indictment to be put together, the news wire claimed, citing anonymous sources.
Six Iranians will be charged in relation to unlawful access of computers and other unspecified crimes, the sources said, also claiming that the indictment will explicitly link the hacks to the Iranian government's previous administration.
An official announcement of the charges by US officials is expected within the coming hours.
The move comes just days after the FBI moved members of the Syrian Electronic Army to the top of its most wanted list for cyber criminals and two years after the US government first indicted foreign nationals - five members of the Chinese military - with hacking into American computers.
The hack on the dam and a spate of DDoS attacks on more than half a dozen US banks, thought to be Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, PNC Financial Services and SunTrust Bank, were carried out at roughly the same time and it has been suspected for some time that the two were linked.
According to Reuters, the attackers did not gain access to any of the dam's critical systems, such as floodgates, but this may have been because they were testing their abilities, rather than aiming to cause a crisis.
-
Top data security trendsWhitepaper Must-have tools for your data security toolkit
-
Why bolstering your security capabilities is critical ahead of NIS2NIS2 regulations will bolster cyber resilience in key industries as well as improving multi-agency responses to data breaches
-
SEC data breach rules branded “worryingly vague” by industry bodyNews The new rules announced last week leave many questions unanswered, according to security industry experts
-
Crackdown on crypto needed to curb cyber crime, says expertNews Threat actors would struggle to generate money without the anonymity provided by unregulated digital tokens, but such a move would require worldwide buy-in
-
The gratitude gapWhitepaper 2023 State of Recognition
-
UK gov invites experts to contribute to its overhauled AI regulatory approachNews The new approach will not adopt the EU's centralised model and sits alongside the National AI Strategy and Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
-
UK government opts against regulation for cyber security standardsNews UK Cyber Security Council will move ahead with its planned chartered standards, with the government to monitor its adoption
-
Encryption battle plays out in Australian ParliamentNews The opposition said that the government is “addicted to secrecy”
