Seven Iranians charged with cyber attacks in US

The US Justice Department on Thursday charged seven Iranians with cyber attacks on banks and a dam in New York from 2011 to 2013.

"A federal grand jury in Manhattan found that these seven individuals conspired together, and with others, to conduct a series of cyber attacks against civilian targets in the US financial industry that, in all, cost victims tens of millions of dollars," Xinhua quoted Attorney General Loretta Lynch as saying at a press conference.

Between late 2011 and mid-2013, as many as 46 financial institutions in the US suffered large-scale and coordinated cyber attacks, said Lynch.

In addition, one of the defendants was also charged with illegally obtaining access to the supervisory control and data acquisition system of the Bowman Dam in Rye, New York.

At the time of the alleged intrusion, the dam was undergoing maintenance and had been disconnected from the system.