US Sanctions 2 Iranians Over Alleged Ransomware Payments - Treasury Dept.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States has imposed sanctions on two Iranian computer experts for alleged facilitating ransomware payments from at least 200 known victims, and also published currency exchange addresses associated with the scheme known as SamSam, the Department of the Treasury announced in a press release on Wednesday.

'The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action today against two Iran-based individuals, Ali Khorashadizadeh and Mohammad Ghorbaniyan, who helped exchange digital currency (bitcoin) ransom payments into Iranian rial on behalf of Iranian malicious cyber actors involved with the SamSam ransomware scheme that targeted over 200 known victims', the Treasury said. 'Also today, OFAC identified two digital currency addresses associated with these two financial facilitators'.

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According to the OFAC, the two Iranians converted more than 7,000 bitcoin transactions into rial, earning millions of the US dollars. Later the Justice Department confirmed in a press release that the suspects collected more than $6 million in ransom payments and cause $30 million in losses to victims.

More than 200 individuals as well as hospitals, municipalities and public institutions, including the cities of Atlanta and Newark, the port of San Diego and the Colorado Department of Transportation, were affected by the hacking scheme, according to the Justice Department.