US offers $10 million reward for information on Iranian hackers attacking 'critical infrastructure'

On Wednesday, Rewards for Justice (RFJ), the US Department of State's national security rewards program, presented a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification of persons participating in "malicious cyber activities against US critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act."

Rewards for Justice identified Hamid Homayunfal, Hamid Reza Lashgarian, Mahdi Lashgarian, Milad Mansuri, Mohammad Bagher Shirinkar, and Reza Mohammad Amin Saberian as Iranian security officials tied to "malicious cyber activities of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) hacking groups."

Hamid Reza Lashgarian is the head of the IRGC's Cyber-Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC). He also serves as a commander in the IRGC-Qods Force, and has been involved in IRGC cyber and intelligence operations.

Meanwhile, Hamid Homayunfal, Mahdi Lashgarian, Milad Mansuri, Reza Mohammad Amin Saberian, and Mohammad Bagher Shirinkar are IRGC-CEC senior officials.

According to Rewards for Justice, CyberAv3ngers, which is affiliated with the IRGC-CEC, targeted the Vision series of programmable logic controllers (PLCs) made by Israel-based Unitronics. 

"In October 2023, CyberAv3ngers actors claimed credit for cyberattacks against Israeli PLCs on their Telegram channel," it said.

Since at least November 2023, "CyberAv3ngers actors have compromised the default credentials in these PLCs across the United States and left a message on the devices' digital screen stating, 'You have been hacked, down with Israel. Every equipment 'made in Israel' is CyberAv3ngers legal target.'"