Twelve Chinese nationals, including mercenary hackers, law enforcement officers and employees of a private hacking company, have been charged in connection with global cybercrime campaigns targeting dissidents, news organizations, U.S. agencies and universities, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
A set of criminal cases filed in New York and Washington add new detail to what U.S. officials say is a booming hacking-for-hire ecosystem in China, in which private companies and contractors are paid by the Chinese government to target victims of particular interest to Beijing in an arrangement meant to provide Chinese state security forces cover and deniability.
The indictments come as the U.S. government has warned of an increasingly sophisticated cyber threat from China, including a hack last year of telecom firms called Salt Typhoon that gave Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, including U.S. government officials and prominent public figures.
One indictment charges eight leaders and employees of a private hacking company known as I-Soon with conducting a sweeping array of computer breaches around the world meant to suppress speech, locate dissidents and steal data from victims. Among those charged is Wu Haibo, who founded I-Soon in Shanghai in 2010 and was a member of China's first hacktivist group, Green Army, and who is accused in the indictment of overseeing and directing hacking operations.
A set of criminal cases filed in New York and Washington add new detail to what U.S. officials say is a booming hacking-for-hire ecosystem in China, in which private companies and contractors are paid by the Chinese government to target victims of particular interest to Beijing in an arrangement meant to provide Chinese state security forces cover and deniability.
The indictments come as the U.S. government has warned of an increasingly sophisticated cyber threat from China, including a hack last year of telecom firms called Salt Typhoon that gave Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, including U.S. government officials and prominent public figures.
One indictment charges eight leaders and employees of a private hacking company known as I-Soon with conducting a sweeping array of computer breaches around the world meant to suppress speech, locate dissidents and steal data from victims. Among those charged is Wu Haibo, who founded I-Soon in Shanghai in 2010 and was a member of China's first hacktivist group, Green Army, and who is accused in the indictment of overseeing and directing hacking operations.
3 days ago
