Inside the state-sponsored university breach

(ominous music)…- [Instructor] Now, let's go inside the breach.…(ominous music)…The Iranian attack against American university professors…demonstrated a strong understanding of…the nature of academic work…and the psychology of faculty members.…The academic culture promotes the publication…of research and rewards work that is respected by…a professor's peers at other institutions.…

Recognizing this, the Mabna Institute attackers…carefully researched their targets.…They studied the work of individual professors,…learning about their research interests and publications.…The attackers then used this information…to design email messages that specifically…targeted individual professors.…We don't have the text of those emails,…but here's an example of the types of information…that they included.…The email addressed a specific professor…and used flattery when referring to…a paper the professor had published.…

They then included an offer of collaboration,…and a link to an interesting resource.…This was a spear-phishing attack designed…