Iranian national U.S. sought for $3.4 billion in hacking attacks arrested in Montenegro

Podgorica, Montenegro — An Iranian national who is wanted by the United States for mass hacking attacks that caused $3.4 billion in damage was arrested in Montenegro, police in the Balkan country said late Thursday.

The 39-year-old man, who holds both the Iranian and Turkish citizenship, is wanted by a federal court in New York on multiple charges including conspiracy to commit computer ⁠fraud, hacking, and identity ⁠theft, a statement said.

Police said they located the man in the coastal Montenegrin resort town of Kotor, where he was arrested Thursday by request of the U.S. and the FBI, Montenegrin police added.

“Since 2013 as an associate of a legal entity from Iran, he committed massive hacking attacks on U.S. infrastructure, including 150 universities, causing damage estimated to over $3.4 billion US dollars,” police said in a statement reported by French news agency AFP. 

The stolen data as well as the compromised university profiles were used for the “benefit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian beneficiaries, including universities based in Iran,” the statement added.

A court in the capital of Podgorica will handle the extradition proceedings, the statement added.

Montenegro is a U.S. ally and member of NATO. The small Adriatic Sea country of just 620,000 people is seen as the next in line to join the European Union.