Iranian Hacker Set Free
In an ongoing series “Plugged-in” continues to report on the January 2016 prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Iran. This article resumes in highlighting the crimes of those Iranians that were released in exchange for four Americans. Previous articles revealed that all seven prisoners were ultimately pardoned for their crimes and then allowed to remain in the U.S. despite their felony convictions and dual citizenship. This article draws attention to an individual who historically liked to remain anonymous.
In late 2012 Iranian national, Nima Golestaneh, and his fellow co-conspirators hacked into the computer server systems of Arrow Tech Associates Inc., a Vermont-based aerodynamics company and U.S. defense contractor, to steal proprietary software. Although early redacted court documents only describe the targeted company as a Vermont-based engineering consulting and software company, Federal Computer Week later noted that the firm’s website stated the company develops software for designing and simulating guided and unguided missile projectiles. Apparently Nima’s covert actions or his identity didn’t go unnoticed by the company or the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In 2013 FBI was able to collect enough evidence that they indicted Nima on a 6 count indictment alleging conspiracy to aid and abet in the commission of wire and computer fraud. One would imagine the most difficult task in a cyber or espionage investigation would be the collection of evidence and the positive identification of the hacker, in this case things were just a little more complex than that. Nima wasn’t in the United States and the FBI knew it. So this is where the International Police Organization (INTERPOL) comes onto scene. At the request of the FBI they asked Interpol to circulate a “red notice,” for Nima. A “Red Notice” is more or less the equivalent of an international arrest warrant and seeks the assistance in locating and the arrest of criminals. Nima’s number came up in December 2013 when he was arrested by Turkish police in Istanbul’s main tourist area, of Sultanahmet. After a number of months, Nima was extradited back to the United States where he was to stand trial.
Early in court proceeding Nima pled not guilty to the charges but later came to his wits and withdrew his original plea and entered a plea of guilty in December 2015. According to “iranwatch.org” and Nima’s own plea agreement, Nima was part of a conspiracy to hack the computer network of Arrow Tech Associates Inc. in Vermont in order to steal information. Nima admitted that he acquired servers in other countries in order for his co-conspirators to launch the attacks while masking their identity and location. After his plea, Nima was awaiting his sentencing in a New York jail when he received the news that all of his charges were to be dropped.
Nima’s story of international cyber hacking had all the makings of a Tom Clancy spy novel, foreign cyber attackers, international police, and the FBI, all working together in order to bring to an international criminal to justice, but it wasn’t and it actually happened. Although it started off like Tom Clancy book it ended up more like “Reno 911” television series. Nima was facing up to twenty years for his crimes but was pardoned just a few short years after his extradition. But all hope is not lost, to show that the current administration and the Department of Justice is resolute in charging the “spirit of the law”, they slapped Nima and the other six Iranian nationals with the so-called “Son of Sam” clause on the way out of the jail cell.
This clause/law essentially prohibits people convicted of crimes from profiting off the publicity from those crimes. Basically, Nima and the other six Iranian nationals that were released in the prisoner swap had to agree not to accept payment for “any book, movie, or other publication or production” about their crimes, incarcerations, and pardons. Wow, way to bring the heat!
Speaking of heat, how much heat do you think Turkey will be taking from Iran for allowing the extradition of one of their nationals in the first place? While likely not common knowledge to most, in order for an extradition to take place an absorbent of work must be done well in advance. This includes a mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) between two cooperating countries. How cooperative do we think Turkey will be with future extraditions, let alone any other country contemplating assisting the U.S.?
Additional information related to this article can be found in the following links:
Article https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-pleads-guilty-facilitating-computer-hacking-vermont-company
Article was submitted by a member of Team Plugged-In.
