US charges two Chinese in hacking case
UNITED STATES officials say two Chinese citizens, acting on behalf of their country’s main intelligence agency, carried out an extensive hacking campaign to steal data from military service members, government agencies, and private companies in America and nearly a dozen other nations.
It was the latest in a series of Justice Department indictments targeting cyberespionage from Beijing.
The two are accused of breaching computer networks in a broad swath of industries, including aviation and space, banking and finance, oil and gas exploration, and pharmaceutical technology.
DATA COMPROMISED
Prosecutors say they also compromised the names, Social Security numbers, and other personal information of more than 100,000 Navy personnel.
All told, prosecutors say, the alleged hackers – identified as Zhu Hua and Zhang Shillong – stole “hundreds of gigabytes” of data, breaching computers of more than 45 entities in 12 states. They are not in custody.
US law-enforcement officials described the case as part of a trend of state-sponsored hackers breaking into American networks and stealing trade secrets and confidential and valuable information.
More than 90 per cent of Justice Department economic espionage cases over the last seven years involve China, said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and more than twothirds of trade secrets cases are connected to the country.
“We want China to cease illegal cyber activities and honour its commitment to the international community, but the evidence suggests that China may not intend to live up to its promises,” said Rosenstein.
As the US was announcing its charges yesterday, the British government accused China of conducting a “widespread and significant” campaign of cyberespionage against the UK and its allies.