Three Silicon Valley engineers charged with stealing Google trade secrets and sending data to Iran

In a significant development, a federal grand jury has indicted three engineers from Silicon Valley on allegations of stealing trade secrets from Google and other tech firms, with claims they transferred sensitive data to Iran. The accused individuals, identified as Samaneh Ghandali, 41, her sister Soroor Ghandali, 32, and Mohammadjavad Khosravi, 40, all residing in San Jose, were arrested on Thursday and promptly appeared in federal district court. The indictment reveals that the three are Iranian nationals, with Soroor in the U.S. on a nonimmigrant student visa. Samaneh is a U.S. citizen, while Khosravi holds permanent residency status. Notably, Khosravi has a background as a former member of the Iranian army. They now face serious charges including conspiracy to commit trade secret theft, actual theft and attempted theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of justice, as stated by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. Prosecutors allege that the defendants exploited their employment at top technology companies involved in developing mobile processors to access hundreds of confidential documents. These files included crucial information on processor security and cryptography. Both Samaneh and Soroor were previously employed at Google before moving to another company referred to as Company 3, while Khosravi was associated with a different firm, known as Company 2, which specializes in system-on-chip (SoC) technology, such as Qualcomm's Snapdragon series used in smartphones. Google confirmed the detection of the alleged theft through routine security protocols, leading to a referral to law enforcement. José Castañeda, a spokesperson for Google, emphasized that the company has implemented stricter measures to safeguard its confidential data, including limiting employee access to sensitive information and employing two-factor authentication for work accounts. Authorities allege that the defendants utilized a third-party communication platform to transfer stolen files, taking elaborate steps to obscure their identities. This included routing data to channels named after each individual, before copying the files to personal devices and sending them to Iran. FBI Special Agent Sanjay Virmani stated that the methods employed indicated a calculated effort to avoid detection. The situation escalated when Google's internal security systems flagged suspicious activity linked to Samaneh, resulting in her access to company resources being revoked in August 2023. Allegations surfaced that she signed a false affidavit denying any unauthorized sharing of Google’s confidential data. During this period, a personal laptop connected to her and Khosravi was reportedly used to research ways to erase communications. Moreover, the couple allegedly took numerous photographs of screens displaying confidential information from both Google and Company 2, seemingly to bypass digital monitoring systems. On the eve of their trip to Iran in December 2023, Samaneh reportedly captured around 24 images of Khosravi's work computer, which included sensitive trade secrets related to Company 2’s Snapdragon SoCs. Prosecutors assert that while in Iran, devices associated with Samaneh accessed these photographs, and Khosravi retrieved further proprietary information regarding Company 2's hardware architecture. The indictment underscores that the trade secrets related to Snapdragon SoCs possess independent economic value due to their proprietary nature, which is not widely known and could benefit competitors if disclosed. Each defendant faces severe penalties if convicted, including potential prison sentences of up to 10 years for each trade secret charge and 20 years for obstruction of justice, along with fines that could reach $250,000 per count.