Montenegro extradites Mabna Institute suspect Amir Barati to US (1 Oct) — IRGC-linked university IP theft case (~US$3.4B)
Montenegrin police / Interpol Podgorica (1 October 2026; CNN, AP/ABC, SecurityWeek 2 Oct) extradited Amir Barati (40; dual Iran/Turkey citizenship) to the United States under a final High Court extradition decision after his 25 June 2026 arrest in Kotor on an FBI warrant. US Southern District of New York superseding indictment (unsealed August 2026) charges 17 alleged Mabna Institute members — including Barati — with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, wire fraud, computer fraud and identity theft for campaigns since ~2013 that prosecutors say hit 144 US universities and 178 abroad, 42 US / 11 foreign private companies, five US government agencies and at least two NGOs; >31 TB of academic/IP material stolen and provided to Iranian government / universities; alleged IRGC tasking; claimed damages ~US$3.4 billion. Extraditions of Iranian state-linked hackers to the US remain rare. US rewards of up to US$10M still advertised for five other named Mabna suspects. Primary wire cluster: CNN / Montenegro police statements / SecurityWeek; DOJ OPA page not stably fetchable at pass time.
- Product
- n/a (law-enforcement action — Mabna Institute / IRGC-linked academic IP theft campaign)
- Versions
- n/a
- Exploited in Australia?
- unknown
- Patch to
- n/a — LE extradition. University / research orgs: continue MFA, phishing-resistant auth, and monitoring for credential stuffing against academic SSO historically targeted by Mabna-style campaigns.
Primary: CNN — Iranian accused in ~US$3B university hacking scheme extradited from Montenegro (1 Oct 2026) · Vendor: SecurityWeek — Alleged Mabna Institute / IRGC-linked hacker Amir Barati extradited (2 Oct 2026) · AP via ABC News — Montenegro extradites Iranian-Turkish dual national in ~US$3.4B cyber case (1 Oct 2026)