Posted on 07/21/2020 9:01:50 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The US Department of Justice is charging two Chinese hackers for cyberattacks to steal company secrets -- including against researchers working to develop a coronavirus vaccine.
In court documents released on Tuesday, the US accused Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, two Chinese nationals who allegedly hacked on behalf of the Chinese government. The indictment said that the hackers researched vulnerabilities in the networks of research firms known for working on COVID-19 vaccines.
Prior to the pandemic, the two had allegedly been responsible for hacking businesses, gaming software companies, pharmaceuticals and technology companies to steal their secrets, the indictment said. Victims were in countries including the US, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Japan, the UK and South Korea. Prosecutors said the hackers had been stealing secrets since at least September 2009.
Prosecutors said that Xiaoyu and Jiazhi stole "hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of trade secrets, intellectual property, and other valuable business information." The victims also included defense contractors and information related to military satellite programs.
"The scale and scope of the hacking activities sponsored by the PRC intelligence services against the US and our international partners is unlike any other threat we're facing today," FBI deputy director David Bowdich said at a press conference on Tuesday.
In May, the FBI said it was investigating hacking attempts from China against COVID-19 vaccine research centers. China is not the only country looking to gain an advantage in the pandemic through cyberattacks, as officials from the UK, Canada and the US also accused Russian hackers of attempts to steal information about a COVID-19 vaccine.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
MORE FROM CNBC:
The Department of Justice accused two Chinese nationals, who were working on behalf of the Chinese government, of stealing trade secrets and hacking into computer systems of firms working on the Covid-19 vaccine.
According to the 11-count indictment, Li Xiaoyu, 34, and Dong Jiazhi, 33, conducted a global hacking campaign for more than a decade. The indictment alleges that the defendants were able to successfully steal terabytes of data from the United States as well as Australia, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
[SNIP]
High tech manufacturing processes, gaming software, solar energy engineering, pharmaceuticals and defense industries were among those targeted in the hack.
A California technology and defense company, a Maryland technology and manufacturing company, the Department of Energy’s Hanford site in Washington, a Texas engineering firm, a Virginia defense contractor, a Massachusetts software firm, a California gaming software company and several U.S. drug makers were among the 13 American businesses that were targeted.
Over a decade of stealing, just from these 2 alone. Wow.
Way too long to indict them.
Are the 2 Chinese in the United States or overseas?
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