>> sunday in q&a, gill university law school professor talks about her book, political tribes. >> calls for overcoming clinical tribalism. we need to talk to each other as americans and not to say you're the evil one. used to be people on the other side of the political divide were people we disagreed with. now, it's like the people who voted for the other candidate are moral and enemies. because a study democracies around the world, places like libya, what's the difference between libya and the united states. it's a multiethnic country too. it's a failed state. it doesn't have the overarching strong libyan identity strong

enough to hold the country together. but we do, this is what makes us special. >> this week, officials announced indictments against nine iranian hackers who broke into accounts of thousands of professors from universities around the world is still data. this briefing is half an hour. >> a morning. for many decades the united states has led the world in science, technology, research, and development. nationstates have taken note of

our success. they increasingly attempt to prophet for america's ingenuity, by infiltrating our consumer computer systems, stealing our property and invading our controls on technology exports. one hackers gain unlawful access to computers can take them only a few minutes to steal discoveries that were produced by many years of work many millions of dollars of investment. that activity does not just cause economic harm. threatens america's national security. identifying and prosecuting computer hackers is a top priority of the department of justice. were here to announce through federal grand jury in the southern district of new york for conspiring to hack into computers under fraud universities businesses and government agencies.

i caution you that an indictment is not a finding of guilt. defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. this indictment alleges the defendants worked on behalf the iranian government. specifically islamic revolutionary guard corps. the hack the systems of approximately 120 approximately 320 universities in 22 countries. 144 university victims are american universities. they stole research the cost universities approximately $3.4 billion to maintain. that information was used by the guard or sole purpose for profit. the defendants work for an organization to the defendants founded for the stated purpose of help at iranian universities

access scientific research. there were consisted of stealing research indictment charges nine defendants for committing several crimes. including computer fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and identity theft. i want to make two points before i turn the microphone over first, every sector of our economy is the target of the list shows cyber attacks. everyone who wants a computer needs to be vigilant to prevent attacks. academic he is to touche and's are prime subjects. universities can thrive as marketplaces of ideas and engines of research and development only if their work is protected from theft.

we highlight the need for universities and other organizations to emphasize cyber security, increased threat awareness and harden the computer networks. the second point is that our work is important because it will disrupt the activities and deter similar crimes by other perpetrators. this indictment identifies the conspirators in this public identification helps deter state-sponsored computer intrusions by stripping hackers of their anonymity and imposing real consequences. revealing the various activities makes it harder for them to do business. working with foreign law enforcement agencies in providing the private sector with information to help neutralize the hacking infrastructure.

by bringing the charges we reinforce the norm that the most civilized worlds except. nationstates should not steal intellectual property for the purpose of giving domestic industries a competitive advantage. as a result these defendants are fugitives from justice. there more than 100 countries where there may face arrest and a tradition to the united states. thanks to the treasury department, they will find it difficult to engage in business or financial transactions outside of iran. by making clear that criminal actions have consequences, we deter schemes to victimize the united states is companies and citizens. and we help protect our foreign allies. the united states is taking several actions to coincide with

unsealing the indictment. were imposing sanctions on the individual defendants in the madden institute. were releasing information about cyber vulnerabilities which will help private sector organizations were enlisting the assistance of law-enforcement partners. i'm grateful for stephen nation for using the treasury departments authorities to reinforce the charges. also want to thank others and the department of justice employee agents, and support personnel who worked to secure this indictment. reduce our attorney from southern new york.

>> thank you rod. the morning. my name is jeffrey berman. i am the united states attorney for the seventh district of new york. today, in one of the largest state-sponsored hacking campaign sever prosecuted by the department of justice, we have en masse criminals who normally work in total anonymity hiding behind the ones and zeros of computer code. this massive and brazen cyber assault on the computer systems of 144 euros universities 176 foreign universities in 21 countries and dozens of government organizations and private companies, this was conducted on behalf of the iranian governments islamic revolutionary guard or i rgc. his indictment alleges it was leaders of the madden institute.

the company that conducted this assault and then sold to illegal foods. the company was set up in 2013 by two defendants. while the company's name may sound legitimate, the so-called institute was set up for one reason only. to steal scientific resources from other countries from around the world. the global campaign operated in three parts. university campaign, private company hacks and nongovernmental entity hacks. with respect to the university campaign from 2013 to 2017, the defendants targeted more than 100,000 accounts of university professors. by tricking professors to click on false links compromised 8000

accounts. once the gains access to the accounts they so stole massive amounts of academic data and property. the universities combined had to pay $3.4 billion to access information. the defendants got it for free. they targeted data and research from all fields including science and technology, engineering, social science, medical and other professional fields. in total they stole at least 31.5 terabytes of data. that's over 15 billion pages. they sent the data back to computers they controlled outside the united states. to be clear, this is not just raw data, this is in the innovations and intellectual property of some of our country's greatest minds.

the second part of the campaign targeted private sectors in the united states and at least 11 countrie11companies in foreign . they targeted firms across sectors, law firms, technologies, consulting, financial, healthcare, biotechnology companies, and others. was they gained access they still entire e-mail mailboxes from the victims. they set up rules of the stolen accounts to secretly forward all new e-mails. the third an troubling part of the campaign targeted u.s. government nongovernmental organizations. among the victims were the u.s. department of labor, the united nations, and even the federal energy regulatory commission.

this agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. that agency has details of some of this country's most sensitive infrastructure. we believe all nine defendants are currently in iran. i have a message for them and for others who it temped to harm our country through cyber assaults. we have worked tirelessly to identify you. you cannot hide behind a keyboard halfway around the world and expect not to be held to account. together with our law-enforcement partners we will work relentlessly and creatively to apply the legal tools at our disposal to unmask and charge you. we will do all we can to bring

it to justice. while the defendants are at large there now fugitives in the judicial systems. they are no longer free to travel outside of iran without the fear being arrested or extradited to the united states. they cannot leave iran to conduct business. the only way they can see the rest of the world is through their computer screen that's messed stripped of their greatest asset, anonymity. at the crux of this case is the fact that the government of iran systematically methodically hacked into our computer network with the intent to steal as much information as possible. as clever as i thought they were, they were ultimately detected and identified by the most sophisticated, capable, advanced law-enforcement in the world. in that regard, i think the fbi. represented here by deputy

director david in our good friend, bill sweeney and assistant director in charge of the new york field office of the fbi. their work has been extraordinary and we're lucky to have them. i think the prosecutors in my office who prosecuted this case. i think her criminal division chief for hurt leadership and excellent supervision. i think timothy howard who is great expertise and knowledge in the area of cyber crimes and has spearheaded this investigation. he was ably assisted by richard cooper and jonathan cohen. i think michael ferrara who supervises the case.

it is a privilege and quite humbling to be working alongside this talented and dedicated public servants. i'll introduce the next speaker, deputy director david bowditch. >> thank you. morning. as mentioned on deputy director and also represented the fbi as assistant director of the new york field office. if i could i would have all the fbi agents and analysts from the new york field office and around the globe that assisted with this investigation i would have them here to show them the

appreciation of the work and the tireless man-hours they put into this investigation the prosecutors. the fbi is charged with defending the united states against crimes. we face cyber threats and state-sponsored hackers like individuals who were indicted today. state-sponsored hackers steeler government secrets, trade secrets, our technology and ideas for military and competitive advantage. the individuals were indicting today were leaders, contractors, associates, contractors for hire and part of the madden institute based in iran. they engaged in the hacking. through more than a four-year campaign these hackers compromised approximately 144 us-based universities and 176 foreign universities and 21 countries.

they targeted more than 100,000 e-mail accounts of professors around the world and ultimately were able to compromise more than 8000 accounts. scholarly worry shirts, personal e-mail account information belonging to the targeted victims was accessed and exploited. in the end, the information retrieved from the academic databases alone during the course of the separation costs the u.s. higher learning institutions approximately $3.4 billion. the subscriptions of the databases are funded in part by taxpayer, your dollars in student tuition. this means people in our country were paying for surface what nationstate actors were consuming for free.

they're not a meyer in our work. they're stealing it and taking credit for and selling it to others. they also targeted and compromised e-mail accounts of roughly 36 us-based private companies and 11 private companies overseas using a massive password spray attack and a brute force attack that flies under the radar of many security protocols used by companies. they compromised e-mail accounts for governmental and nongovernmental organizations including the department of labor, the federal agency migratory commission, the states of hawaii and indiana. even the united nations. when we learned of these attacks we notified the victim so they could take action to notify the impact. some may ask, why would you pursue people you'll never get your hands on. apprehending these individuals has been a challenge but it is not impossible.

we have done it before, will do it again. people travel and take vacations, they make plans with their families and having your name, face, and description on a wanted poster makes you moving around more difficult. while we cannot apprehend them easily quickly will resort to different methods such as naming and shaming. shanks sanctions, and publicity. we will keep at it because the fbi and our partners have a long memory and the long arm of the law preaches worldwide. we cannot have gotten this far without the courage and cooperation of our victims. companies and institutions may be reluctant to report breaches the many believe notifying authorities will hurt their competitive advantage or damage the reputation. we don't want companies,

universities or individuals to be victimized a second time by an investigation. will minimize the disruption to their daily routine and safeguard the privacy. when necessary, will seek protective orders. maintaining a quota silence will not help anyone. we think our partners in the united kingdom's national crime agency in the treasury department's office of foreign assets control. we will work together and use every tool to protect her innovation, innovation and ideas. we'll do our part to make sure systems are strong, secure and protected as possible. we cannot stress enough the

importance of good cyber hygiene. and the use of strong passwords and multi factor authentication. we need to do it we can together to lay hands on these people. to deter others and to keep up the network say. thank you. >> a morning, and the under secretary of treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. today, along with the department of justice indictment the u.s. department of treasury is designating one iranian entity in ten iranian individuals under executive order 13694, for significant cyber activities. specifically were sanctioning the institute's have heard in iran based company that

contracted with her any governmental entities to conduct hacking activities on their behalf. conducted massive coordinated cyber intrusion into the computer systems of 300 universities worldwide including hundred four institutions in the united states. this was done at the behest of the chiron revolutionary guard corps. without sorts information and there hackers for hire. the ire gc plays a central role in iran's maligned activities across world in october of last we sanction the ire gc under terrorism authorities providing material support in the key iranian entity enabling syrian

president relentless campaigns of brutal violence against his own people. as well as lethal activity of other terrorist groups. carrier gc has been designated four times over in the united states also been designated in the european union by the un. the deceptive scheme allow the ir gc to infiltrate and obtain valuable information from universities in the united states and 21 other countries including the united kingdom, germany, canada, australia, israel, japan, south korea, china, another countries. the fact is designating nine individuals were leaders, contractors, associates, hackers for hire and other affiliates.

in addition to the actions the designating iranian national -- who compromised multiple user accounts belonging to the u.s. median entertaining company had engaged in an attempt to extort the victim companies for six millions dollars. as a result all property and interests in property of the designated persons are blocked and u.s. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. persons that knowing leaked conduct transactions are also subject to our secondary sanctions. the cyber breaches are just the

latest extraordinary example of the regime's willingness to cyber enabled another illicit means to enrich itself and attack companies across the globe. this kind of activity in the numbers of countries that would tomorrow to send the message around the world about iran's continued deceptive practices. it should come as no surprise. the regime continues to flout our laws and those are allies and partners. a few months ago we took action against an ir gc counterfeit scheme that aim to corrupt international financial system including by circumventing european export controls. the ir gc continues to have an extensive presence in iran's

economy and benefits from their near total lack of transparency in the financial sector. as the status highlighted just last month there continues to be massive deficiencies in iran's anti- money laundering for over a decade iran has failed to fulfill its international obligations. as part of this administration strategy are committed to using authorities to combat the regime's deception and under the financial system. they issued 11 sanctions vaccinating 108 targets in the middle east, asia, and europe in

connection with the ire gc, and support for terrorism the ballistic missile program, the human rights abuses, and censorship in transnational activity in cyber attacks. we will continue to hold the ire gc's accountable including these ongoing costly and malicious cyber attacks. i think the justice department and fbi for their coordinations terrific work on this action. i think the tremendous career officials who work tirelessly with us on this corning action. . .

people who know me from new york know i warned answer on the tactics. different techniques take place but i don't want to get into specifics. >> it without going into the specifics and i understand that one of the victims that alerted you to that they came to you and said help us find them? >> it's a combination of both. in some cases the tims came forward and we encouraged to come forward and report to the fbi and report any violation to the fbi field office. we can help resolve and that's why we rely upon victim cooperation by the many cases

the fbi has superb cyber experts and for understandable reasons we don't talk about exactly who they are what they do but we have tremendous capabilities within the di to detect cyber intrusions into combat them and so in many cases the fbi presented to the victims so they can take appropriate action. any other questions? >> is there a specific example where they have manifest themselves in some way? we are not going to talk about anything beyond the public indictment. we would have specific evidence concerning the laws and the significance of the losses. the victims are obviously free to make their own independent decisions about whether to come forward for regulatory or other reasons and take appropriate

actions to protect their customers but we are not going to be talking about any details. >> can you explain a little bit more about the leakage to the ig rc in their contracts? it's almost hard to believe somebody would write a contract to have someone else hack. >> the madden institute was working with a contractor for the iranian government. i'm not going to be a it be any details about what evidence we have to prove that that the allegation in the indictment is the evidence will demonstrate that the institute was working on behalf of the irgc and irgc benefited from the information that was stolen. >> as we have in here right now the city of atlanta has a ransom attack and there's word that the government is not doing enough to deter the attacks.

is there a task force? and know they at di has the name and shame taxes-- [inaudible] can you say specifically what is the federal government doing to deter these attacks on on the infrastructure? >> a lot of questions. this administration is in its second year and we are doing quite a lot. you don't see an attack that is deterred. he only see the one that has my can tell you we are doing for a task force in the work of our partner agencies we are working together to pursue every lead and we encourage them private-sector victims to come forward and give us this information. we are going to keep turning in indictments when we can. some of the indictments are unsealed and we make a decision based on the circumstances. we have other cases that are not public in which we are working

actively. we are going to continue to pursue this strategy. we will continue to pursue this whole of government approach which you see here. i think it will have an impact. law enforcement is about deterrence specifically and would love a specific deterrence on the people in this case of we are going to generally deter to that because we are spreading the word that anybody who attacks america's going to take an appropriate response by the united states government. thank you very much. thank you.

president trump announce former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. john bolton would replace outgoing national security adviser h.r. mcmaster. last month ambassador bolton spoke at the annual cpac conference. this is half an hour. >> ladies and gentlemen thank you so much for having us and a special thank you to our wonderful panelists here. i'm going to try and speak as little as possible because we have so much expertise here. i am grateful