Two Chinese nationals charged with hacking, accused of stealing personal information of 100,000 Navy personnel

Source: Washington Examiner | December 20, 2018 | Kelly Cohen

The Justice Department has accused two Chinese nationals of a global hacking campaign.

According to the indictment, unsealed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, the two Chinese hackers obtained unauthorized access to computers of at least 45 entities, which included commercial and defense technology companies as well as United States government agencies, across 12 states.

The hackers were charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions. Speaking Thursday from the Justice Department headquarters in Washington, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the charges are for attacks on “managed service providers” that provide IT services to other companies.

The hackers targeted telecommunication, financing, mining, and consumer products companies, among others.

The hackers also managed to steal personally identifiable information for more than 100,000 U.S. Navy personnel.

With the charges, the Trump administration formally accuses China of violating a 2015 espionage deal in which former President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping stood next to each other and declared that neither the U.S. nor Chinese governments “will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information for commercial advantage.”

Rosenstein said Thursday he wants China to “cease its illegal cyber activities.”

“Today’s charges mark an important step in revealing to the world China’s continued practice of stealing commercial data,” Rosenstein said, adding, “The evidence suggests that China may not intend to abide by its promises.”

Several allied countries, including the United Kingdom, Japan and Australia, are expected to issue statements supporting the action by the U.S.

…….

Tagged: , , ,

Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.