US indicts Iranians over hospital ransomware attacks

Washington: The US Justice Department charged two Iranian hackers Wednesday with extorting at least $6 million from hospitals, city governments and public institutions in the US and Canada by remotely locking down their computer systems.

The DOJ said Faramarz Shahi Savandi and Mohammad Mehdi Shah Mansouri deployed the SamSam Ransomware into the systems of more than 200 institutions, including the governments of Atlanta, Georgia and Newark, New Jersey, seeking to freeze their operations until they paid ransoms by bitcoin.

"The hackers infiltrated computer systems in 10 states and Canada and then demanded payment. The criminal activity harmed state agencies, city governments, hospitals, and countless innocent victims," said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.