US indicts 7 hackers in effort to send a message to Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The seven Iranian hackers charged with attacking dozens of banks and a small dam near New York City may never see the inside of a courtroom, but U.S. officials hope their "name and shame" tactic sends a message to foreign governments that support such attacks. Indictments announced Thursday by the Justice Department portrayed Tehran-linked hackers reaching into the U.S. infrastructure and disrupting its financial system. It was the first time the FBI attributed a breach of a U.S. computer system that controls critical infrastructure to a hacker linked to a foreign government. None of the individuals is in American custody and it's unclear if they'll ever be arrested or whether criminal indictments in absentia effectively combat such crimes. Publicly naming and shaming such crimes linked to foreign governments is a tactic focused on by the Justice Department since 2012.