https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46638323
The US justice department has indicted two Chinese men accused of hacking into the computer networks of companies and government agencies in Western countries.
The pair are allegedly part of a "hacking group" known as Advanced Persistent Threat 10, affiliated with China's main intelligence service.
They have not been arrested.
The US and UK have accused China of violating an agreement relating to commercial espionage.
Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong worked for a company called Huaying Haitai and in association with the Chinese Ministry of State Security, the US court filing says.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said that from at least 2006 until 2018, the two extensively hacked into computer systems with the aim of stealing intellectual property and confidential business and technological information from:
at least 45 commercial and defence technology companies in at least 12 US states
managed service providers (MSPs) and their government and commercial clients in at least 12 countries, including the UK, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UAE, as well as the US
US government agencies
The FBI said they had also hacked into US Navy computer systems and stolen the personal information of more than 100,000 personnel.
FBI director Christopher Wray said the two men were at present "beyond US jurisdiction".
'Economic aggression'
Announcing the unsealing of the indictments, US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said China had violated a 2015 agreement under which it had pledged to not engage in commercial cyber-spying.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-canada-joins-us-uk-in-calling-out-china-for-state-sponsored/
Canada has joined major allies including the United States and Britain in identifying China as the country responsible for a state-sponsored hacking campaign to steal data from military service members, government agencies and private companies in the United States and nearly a dozen other countries.
Canada’s statement from the Communications Security Establishment was not as strong as the disapproval registered by some allies. The Americans called it “outright cheating and theft,” the British said China must stop what it called “the most significant and widespread cyber intrusions against the U.K. and allies uncovered to date” and the Australians expressed “serious concern” about Beijing’s “intellectual property theft.”
The Communications Security Establishment, for its part, merely named China as responsible, saying that it is “almost certain that actors likely associated with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ministry of State Security (MSS) are responsible for the compromise … beginning as early as 2016."
The international censure of China comes amid increasing diplomatic tension with Canada over potential Chinese state influence in this country’s networks. Ottawa has been weighing whether to allow China’s flagship tech company, Huawei Technologies, to supply gear for next-generation 5G mobile networks. Chinese law requires companies in China to “support, co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work” as requested by Beijing. Three of Canada’s closest military and intelligence allies – the United States, Australia and New Zealand – have already barred Huawei from these future networks for national security reasons.
U.S. officials in Washington on Thursday accused two Chinese citizens acting on behalf of China’s main intelligence agency of leading the hacking operation. The two Chinese citizens in this global hacking campaign are accused of breaching computer networks in a broad swath of industries, including aviation and space, banking and finance, oil and gas exploration and pharmaceutical technology. U.S. prosecutors say they also compromised the names, Social Security numbers and other personal information of more than 100,000 U.S. Navy workers.
I think this trade war is only going to keep escalating. China is the new enemy number one.
Log in to comment