U.S.: Big-game hackers worked for China agency

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials on Thursday said two alleged Chinese hackers carried out an extensive campaign on behalf of Beijing’s main intelligence agency to steal trade secrets and other information from government agencies, major U.S. corporations and nearly a dozen other nations.

The indictment is the latest in a series of Justice Department criminal cases targeting Chinese cyberespionage and coincided with an announcement by Britain blaming China’s Ministry of State Security for trade-secret pilfering affecting Western nations.

The alleged hackers, one of whom is nicknamed “Godkiller,” are accused of breaching computer networks as early as 2006 in a range of industries, including aviation and space, finance, biotechnology oil and gas, satellites and pharmaceuticals. Prosecutors say they also obtained the names, Social Security numbers and other personal information of more than 100,000 Navy personnel.

In a new twist reflecting corporate computing’s evolution, the hackers often infiltrated cloud computing companies and other major technology providers to indirectly reach clients’ valuable documents.

Prosecutors said the alleged hackers stole “hundreds of gigabytes” of data, breaching computers of more than 45 entities in 12 states including NASA’S Jet Propulsion

Lab and Goddard Space Center. The hackers, identified as members of the group APT10, or “Stone Panda,” are not in custody. Prosecutors said their names are Zhu Hua and Zhang Shillong.

U.S. law enforcement officials say the case is part of a trend of state-sponsored hackers breaking into American networks and stealing trade secrets and other confidential information.

More than 90 percent of Justice Department economic espionage cases over the past seven years involve China, said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and more than two-thirds of trade secrets cases are connected to the country.

“China’s goal, simply put, is to replace the U.S. as the world’s leading superpower, and they’re using illegal methods to get there,” FBI Director Chris Wray said in announcing the case. While none of the “victim companies” was named, Wray called them a “who’s who of the global economy.”

Targeted nations named in the U.S. indictment include Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.