US accuses Chinese nationals of hacking spree for Covid-19 trade secrets
US prosecutors today said the Justice Department had indicted two Chinese nationals for hacking defence contractors, coronavirus researchers and hundreds of others globally.
US authorities said Chinese nationals Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi were part of “one of the most prolific groups of hackers” the FBI has ever investigated.
Officials alleged the pair participated in a multi-year campaign that stole information on weapons designs, drugs, software source code as well as targeting dissidents and Chinese opposition figures.
The indictment did not name any companies, but said the investigation was launched when the hackers broke into a decommissioned nuclear site in the state of Washington.
It added that Li and Dong stole terabytes of data from computers around the world, including the US, the UK, Germany, Australia and Belgium.
The hackers are alleged to have acted as contractors for China’s state intelligence agency the Ministry of Security (MSS), which supplied the hackers with information of critical software vulnerabilities.
Among the politically motivated targets were Hong Kong protesters, the office of the Dalai Lama and a Chinese Christian non-profit.
“Using these freelancers allows the government to access a wider array of talent, while also providing some deniability in conducting these operations,” said Ben Read, a senior analyst at cyber-security company Fire Eye.
The indictment alleged that hackers operated from 2014 to 2020 and most recently attempted to steal cancer research.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Beijing has repeatedly denied hacking the United States and other rival powers.