Former B.C. man pleads guilty to hacking in U.S.
DEFENCE CONTRACTORS: Su Bin sent stolen military data to China
A former Metro Vancouver resident has pleaded guilty in California to hacking into the computer networks of major U.S. defence contractors and sending stolen military data to China.
Chinese citizen Su Bin, who is also known as Stephen Su and Stephen Subin, was arrested on the U.S. charges in Richmond two years ago and launched an unsuccessful B.C. Supreme Court battle against his extradition.
U.S. officials announced Wednesday that Bin ,50, appeared in a Los Angeles court room after a plea agreement had been reached. When he is sentenced in July, he could face five years in prison and a US$250,000 fine.
In the agreement, Bin admitted to conspiring with two people in China from October 2008 to March 2014 to gain unauthorized access to protected computer networks in the U.S., including computers belonging to the Boeing Co. in Orange County, Calif.
Bin was able “to obtain sensitive military information and export that information illegally from the U.S. to China,” the plea agreement states.
Some of the stolen information related to military technical data, including data relating to the C -17 strategic transport aircraft and certain fighter jets produced for the U.S. military.
“Protecting our national security is the highest priority of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and cybercrime represents one of the most serious threats to our national security,” U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said after Bin’s plea. “The innovative and tireless work of the prosecutors and investigators in this case is a testament to our collective commitment to protecting our nation’s security from all threats.”
Bin admitted he would email his co-conspirators with targets he wanted them to hack. The China-based hackers then sent him detailed file listings they had accessed during the hacks so Bin could pick which files and folders he wanted stolen.
Once Bin had the stolen files, he translated some into Chinese.
U.S. authorities said Bin and his accomplices also wrote reports about “the information and technology they had acquired by their hacking activities, including its value, to the final beneficiaries of their hacking activities.”
Bin’s plea agreement says files he and his partners “intentionally stole included data listed on the United States Munitions List contained in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.”
Bin is owner and manager of Lode-Tech, a Chinese-based company focused on aviation technology, with an office in Canada. When he was arrested in June 2014, Bin had permanent resident’s status in Canada. He told a B.C. judge he owned a Vancouver home and both his children were born in Canada.