Nine Iranian citizens—working at the behest of the government of Iran—have been charged in a massive computer hacking campaign that compromised U.S. and foreign universities, private companies, and U.S. government entities, including the Department of Labor and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The hackers were affiliated with the Mabna Institute, an Iran-based company created in 2013 for the express purpose of illegally gaining access to non-Iranian scientific resources through computer intrusions. Members of the institute were contracted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—one of several entities within the Iranian government responsible for gathering intelligence—as well as other Iranian government clients.

During a more than four-year campaign, these state-sponsored hackers “compromised approximately 144 U.S.-based universities and 176 foreign universities in 21 countries,” said FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich during a press conference today at the Department of Justice in Washington to announce the indictments. When the FBI learned of the attacks, he said, “we notified the victims so they could take action to minimize the impact. And then we took action to find and stop these hackers.”

Initially, the cyber criminals used an elaborate spearphishing campaign to target the e-mail accounts and computer systems of their victims, which in addition to the universities included nearly 50 domestic and foreign private-sector companies, the states of Hawaii and Indiana, and the United Nations.