Iran’s regime is suspected of hacking attacks on the accounts of charity workers, academics, and dual nationals living abroad, as well as dozens of political and civil activists.

The Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said the attacks have escalated in the past two weeks, aimed at e-mail and social media accounts. It said the targets are “well known”, without giving names. They included Iranians living in California, Washington DC, and Tehran.

The CHRI said some of those targets are in communication with political prisoners, or are professional acquaintances of them. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have stepped up the detention of both Iranians and dual nationals.

One of the latest detainees is Anglo=Iranian professor Abbas Edalat of Imperial College London, seized on April 15 after he came to Tehran for an academic seminar. More than a dozen environmental activists were seized in late January and February: Professor Kavous Sayed-Emami died in suspicious circumstances in custory, and Imperial College lecturer Kaveh Madani, a deputy head at the Environment Department, was forced to leave the country.

The CHRI reported that hackers also targeted the accounts of the members of Imam Ali Charity, an NGO supporting underprivileged women and children.