U.S. charges Chinese soldiers with industrial spying
WASHINGTON — The United States has charged five Chinese army hackers with cyberspying and theft of trade secrets from six U.S. nuclear, steel and cleanenergy companies, causing a “substantial” loss of jobs, competitive edge and markets.
“This is a case alleging economic espionage by members of the Chinese military … to advantage state-owned companies and other interests in China,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said at a news conference.
“It represents the first-ever charges against known state actors for infiltrating United States commercial targets by cyber means.”
The information stolen in this case, he said, “is significant and demands an aggressive response.”
But the U.S. will find it difficult to arrest the defendants because it has no extradition treaty with China. Given that diplomacy has failed to stop Chinese hacking, Holder said, the charges reflect a new and harsh response to any country that tries to steal commercial secrets from U.S. companies.
“This administration will not tolerate actions by any nation that seeks to illegally sabotage American companies and undermine the integrity of fair competition in the operation of the free market,” he said.
The five charged hackers — Wang Dong, Sun Kailiang, Wen Xinyu, Huang Zhenyu, and Gu Chunhui — are officers in Unit 61398 of the Third Department of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the indictment said. They worked out of a Chinese People’s Army building in Shanghai.
The targeted companies were Westinghouse Electric; U.S. subsidiaries of the German company SolarWorld; United States Steel; Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI); the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (USW); and Alcoa, the indictment said. According to a 2013 report by the U.S. security firm Mandiant, Unit 61398 has also targeted Canadian companies.
The hackers targeted the companies at a critical time when they were in trade disputes with China and when they were competing with Chinese companies in international markets, said David Hickton, U.S. attorney for the western District of Pennsylvania where the charges were laid.
When Westinghouse, for example, was building four nuclear power plants in China in 2010 and negotiating other terms, Sun allegedly “stole confidential and proprietary technical and design specifications for pipes, pipe supports, and pipe routing” as well as sensitive emails, the indictment said.