The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has imposed sanctions on two companies and four individuals linked to Iran-backed cyber operations that targeted a dozen U.S. companies and government entities.
The designated companies and individuals are Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber Electronic Command front company Mehrsam Andisheh Saz Nik; IRGC-CEC-affiliated cyber actors Alireza Shafie Nasab, Reza Kazemifar Rahman and Komeil Baradaran Salmani; IRGC-CEC front company Dadeh Afzar Arman; and DAA employee Hosein Mohammad Haruni, who conducted malicious cyber activities targeting the Treasury Department and other U.S. entities.
According to Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, the Iranian cyber actors aim to destabilize U.S. critical infrastructure and cause harm to Americans.
“The United States will continue to leverage our whole-of-government approach to expose and disrupt these networks’ operations,” the undersecretary said.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI will unseal an indictment against the four newly designated individuals who, according to the Treasury, used ransomware attacks, spear phishing and other social engineering campaigns to infiltrate U.S. government networks.