Iranian man pleads guilty to role in ransomware attack on Baltimore City

An Iranian national pleaded guilty Tuesday to participating in an international ransomware and extortion scheme involving the Robbinhood ransomware that struck U.S. cities, including Baltimore.

Baltimore City officials discovered malware in 2019 that prompted email, phones and computers to be shut down, which impacted many city services.

Sina Gholinejad, 37, and his co-conspirators compromised the computer networks of cities, corporations, health care organizations and other entities around the United States, according to court documents and statements made in court.

U.S. Department of Justice officials said in a statement that Gholinejad and co-conspirators then encrypted files from the victim networks with Robbinhood ransomware to extort ransom payments.

Baltimore lost more than $19 million from the damage caused to its computer networks and the resulting disruption to several essential city services, including online services for processing property taxes, water bills, parking citations and other revenue-generating functions, which lasted many months.

Read more: WBAL