U.S. indicts Iranian hackers responsible for deploying 'SamSam' ransomware

The United States on Wednesday indicted two Iranians for launching a major cyber attack using ransomware known as "SamSam" and sanctioned two others for helping exchange the ransom payments from Bitcoin digital currency into rials. The 34-month long hacking scheme wreaked havoc on hospitals, schools, companies and government agencies, including the cities of Atlanta, Georgia, and Newark, New Jersey, causing over $30 million in losses to victims and allowing the alleged hackers to collect over $6 million in ransom payments. The deployment of the SamSam ransomware represented some of the highest profile cyber attacks on U.S. soil, including one in 2016 that forced Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles to turn away patients and one last year that shut down Atlanta courts and much of its city government.

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