With the United States forces engaged in destroying the Iranian military, it’s easy for Americans to think the enemy is on the other side of the world.
But a Department of Justice operation that resulted in the arrests of three Iranian-born computer engineers on the virtual eve of Operation Epic Fury has a different kind of message:
The danger can be much, much closer to home.
As the New York Post reported Monday, two sisters and the husband of one of the women were arrested in mid-February, 10 days before military operations against Iran began, and charged with stealing trade secrets from Google and other Silicon Valley powerhouses.
A Department of Justice news release from Feb. 19 identified the trio as Soroor Ghandali, 32; Samaneh Ghandali, 41; and Samaneh Ghandali’s husband, Mohammadjavad Khosravi, 40.
The Ghandali sisters are former Google engineers who went on to work at another unidentified tech company; Khosravi worked at a third tech company, the release said.
And they apparently operated like trained professionals.
“As part of the alleged scheme to commit trade secret theft, the defendants used their employment to obtain access to confidential and sensitive information,” according to the DOJ release.
“The defendants then exfiltrated confidential and sensitive documents, including trade secrets related to processor security and cryptography and other technologies, from Google and other technology companies to unauthorized third-party and personal locations, including to work devices associated with each other’s employers, and to Iran.”
In official terms, the three are charged with “conspiring to commit trade secret theft from Google and other leading technology companies, theft and attempted theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of justice,” according to the news release.
But as the U.K.’s Daily Mail noted, “trade secrets” in this case sounds more like a euphemism for technology that can pose a direct danger to American troops, and the country itself.
Hellbound and Down 