DOJ: Hackers tried to steal vaccine data
WASHINGTON — The United States Department of Justice accused a pair of Chinese hackers on Tuesday of targeting vaccine development on behalf of the country’s intelligence service as part of a broader yearslong campaign of cybertheft aimed at an array of industries around the world including defense contractors, high-end manufacturing and solar energy companies.
Justice Department officials labeled the suspects, Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, as a blended threat who sometimes worked on behalf of China’s spy services and sometimes worked to enrich themselves. The officials said an indictment secured against them earlier this month and unsealed on Tuesday was the first to target such a threat.
American government officials said the suspects had previously stolen information about other Chinese intelligence targets like human rights activists and, at the behest of China’s spy service, shifted focus this year to trying to acquire COVID-19 vaccine research.
The indictment came as the
Trump administration has stepped up its criticism of Beijing, for both its theft of secrets and its failure to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, and is a significant escalation of that campaign to denounce Beijing. The Justice Department said that China’s covert activity could potentially set back research efforts.
The accusations also came days after the United States and allied countries accused Russia of trying to steal information on vaccine development.
The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The suspects are unlikely to be brought to trial because China does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. The charges were the latest in a continuing campaign by the Justice Department to secure indictments against private groups and intelligence officials involved in hacking campaigns as a deterrent and to raise awareness.
The suspects targeted hundreds of computer networks around the world and caused unnamed companies to lose hundreds of millions of dollars of intellectual property, according to the indictment. For example, the hackers stole research on radio and laser technology from a California defense firm and engineering drawings for a gas turbine from a company working in the United States and Japan, court papers showed.
Justice Department and FBI officials said the hackers were pursuing information and research about the coronavirus vaccine from American biotech firms but described it as an attempt; the indictment did not say they successfully stole information or research on the coronavirus vaccine.