Montenegro police, FBI arrest Iranian wanted by US for hacking

BELGRADE, June 26 (Reuters) - ‌Montenegrin police ​and the ​U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested an Iranian national suspected of hacking attacks ‌that damaged U.S. infrastructure to the tune of $3.4 ⁠billion, Montenegrin police said.

The 39-year-old man, with dual Iranian and Turkish ‌citizenship, is sought by the ‌Southern District Court in New York on charges including conspiracy to commit computer fraud, hacking, and ​identity theft.

He was arrested in the Adriatic coastal resort of Kotor, Montenegro’s police directorate said ⁠on Thursday.

"From 2013 onward, ... he carried out massive hacking attacks ... targeting ​more than 150 universities in the United States, causing damage estimated at over $3.4 billion," ​it added in a statement.

The ‌case will now go to a High Court judge in Montenegro’s capital of ⁠Podgorica for extradition proceedings, the police added.

The acquired data, as well as access to compromised university accounts, were ⁠used for the benefit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard ​Corps and other Iranian entities, including universities, it said.

The FBI was not immediately available for comment.

Iran and the IRGC have a ‌long history of state-sponsored cyber operations targeting the United States, often linked ‌to IRGC.

In April, U.S. cybersecurity, law enforcement, and intelligence ⁠agencies warned about an ‌escalation of Iranian ​hacking campaigns targeting equipment across critical U.S. infrastructure.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Clarence ‌Fernandez)

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