US Indicts 12 Chinese Nationals in Major Hacking Scheme Against Dissidents

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 12 Chinese nationals linked to a hacking operation that targeted dissidents and government agencies, implicating China in state-sponsored cyber crimes.

US prosecutors have formally charged 12 Chinese nationals who are implicated in a sophisticated hacking operation that targeted U.S.-based dissidents and various government agencies, including the Treasury. According to the Justice Department (DOJ), this "state-sponsored" cyber operation also extended its reach to an American religious organization and a Hong Kong newspaper critical of the Chinese government.

China has not responded specifically to these allegations but has consistently denied previous accusations of cyber crimes. The charges were unsealed in a federal court in Manhattan, though it remains unclear when they were initially filed. In December, the Treasury Department highlighted a significant breach that was attributed to state-sponsored hackers from China, who accessed sensitive employee workstations and unclassified documents.

Among those indicted are two officials from China's Ministry of Public Security. The hacking group, reportedly associated with a private firm called i-Soon, allegedly charged Chinese government agencies between $10,000 and $75,000 for each compromised email account. They conducted cyber intrusions under the auspices of various Chinese ministries as well as on their own, profiting handsomely from the stolen data.

Sue J. Bai, head of the DOJ's National Security Division, emphasized the importance of exposing "Chinese government agents" responsible for reckless cyber attacks on global networks and affirmed the U.S. commitment to dismantling these cyber mercenaries threatening national security.

Details regarding the specific identities of the targeted U.S. dissidents remain undisclosed. However, the religious organization attacked was described as one that had previously dispatched missionaries to China and publicly criticized the People's Republic of China (PRC). Additionally, the operation reportedly spanned beyond U.S. interests, encompassing intrusions into the foreign ministries of Taiwan, India, South Korea, and Indonesia.

Last October, both the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency indicated that actors associated with the PRC were behind hacking attempts against two significant U.S. presidential campaigns. Earlier in the year, a separate case involved seven Chinese nationals accused of a hacking operation that lasted over a decade, aimed at foreign critics of the Chinese regime. These recent developments follow a pattern of cyber operations linked to China, which have also targeted institutions in the UK and New Zealand.