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The US Department of Justice announced charges on Tuesday against 17 members of Iran's Mabna Institute, alleging they conducted cyber operations and hacking on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian entities. Prosecutors described a widespread cyber campaign that targeted more than 100,000 accounts belonging to university professors and other researchers. The indictment adds to a series of US legal and financial measures against Iranian state-linked institutions during the ongoing confrontation between Washington and Tehran. While largely symbolic in effect given that the defendants are outside US jurisdiction, such cases are used to publicly attribute cyber activity to the IRGC.