This is how three Iranian spies infiltrated Google and gave information to Tehran

The three are Iranian citizens who managed to screw themselves into the giant companies: Samana Gandali, 41, her sister Soror Gandali, 32, and Mohammadjavad Khosravi, 40 – all residents of San Jose – they were arrested last Thursday and appeared in federal district court the same day.

According to the indictment, Suror stayed in the US on a student visa, Samana later became a US citizen, and Khosravi, her husband, who previously served in the Iranian army, became a legal permanent resident of the US.

The trio faces charges of conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets, theft and attempted theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors allege that the three defendants used their positions at leading technology companies that develop laptop processors to obtain hundreds of confidential files, including materials related to processor security and cryptography.

Samana and Soror worked at Google before joining an unnamed third company. Khosravi worked at a separate company that develops system-on-chip (SoC) platforms for smartphones and other mobile devices.

In a statement to CNBC, Google said it detected the alleged theft through routine security monitoring before referring the case to law enforcement. “We have enhanced safeguards to protect our confidential information and immediately notified law enforcement authorities after we discovered this incident,” a company spokesperson said.

The tech giant also pointed to measures to protect its trade secrets, including limiting employee access to sensitive information, two-step verification for work-related Google accounts and logging file transfers to third-party platforms such as Telegram.