Ex-Google engineers accused of helping themselves to chip security secrets

Two former Google engineers and a third alleged accomplice are facing federal charges after prosecutors accused them of swiping sensitive chip and security technology secrets and then trying to cover their tracks when the scheme began to unravel.

According to the Department of Justice, sisters Samaneh and Soroor Ghandali, both former Google employees, along with Mohammadjavad Khosravi, who worked at another unnamed technology company, have been charged with conspiracy, theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of justice.

The indictment alleges the trio misappropriated confidential information from multiple firms, including Google, spanning processor security and cryptography technologies, and that some of the data was exfiltrated to unauthorized locations, including Iran.

The DOJ says that while working at Google, Samaneh Ghandali allegedly transferred hundreds of internal files, including trade secrets, to a third-party communications platform and shared them in channels associated with the defendants. Soroor Ghandali is accused of transferring numerous files ...