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WASHINGTON – US Justice Department officials on Wednesday (September 16) criticized Beijing for tolerating Chinese hackers and providing them a safe haven rather than bringing them to justice, as they unveiled allegations against five Chinese nationals and two Malaysians engaged in wide-ranging piracy. Bell.
“The Chinese government has the power to help stop crimes like these,” Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen told a news conference.
“The Chinese government has made a deliberate decision to allow its citizens to commit computer intrusions and attacks around the world because these actors will also help the People’s Republic of China (People’s Republic of China),” he added.
Prosecutors said the five Chinese nationals hacked 100 companies in the United States and other countries, including Singapore. His targets included software development companies, social media companies, nonprofits, universities, think tanks and even pro-democracy politicians and activists in Hong Kong, prosecutors said.
Leading telecommunications and electronic communications service providers in the United States, Singapore and elsewhere were also compromised, they said. The victim companies were not named in court documents released Wednesday.
The hackers, who prosecutors say are currently fugitives in China, also compromised government computer networks in India and Vietnam, and attacked but failed to breach government computer networks in Great Britain.
The two Malaysians were charged with conspiring with two of the Chinese hackers to profit from attacks on the video game industry in the US and abroad, illegally obtaining or generating game resources and selling them on the market. black through their website. The couple were arrested in Perak on Monday (September 14).
“The scope and sophistication of the crimes in these unsealed indictments is unprecedented. The alleged criminal scheme used actors in China and Malaysia to illegally hack, meddle and steal information from victims around the world, “said Michael Sherwin, Acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia where the charges were filed.
While the Justice Department did not say that Beijing was behind the hackers, it noted that one of the Chinese defendants claimed he was “very close” to the Chinese Ministry of State Security and would be protected “unless it happens. Something very important”.
When asked about the allegations on Thursday, China said it was a strong advocate for cybersecurity and has always cracked down on all forms of cyberattacks and cybercrime in accordance with the law.
“Unfortunately, the United States has long used cybersecurity concerns as a tool for stigmatization, political manipulation, and the spread of falsehoods and information,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin in a statement. regular briefing in Beijing.
“We urge the United States to deal with cybersecurity issues objectively and rationally, and jointly respond to the challenges of hacker attacks through dialogue and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect,” he said.
The Trump administration has brought several cases against Chinese hackers in recent months, accusing the Chinese government of sponsoring espionage and hacking attempts to steal American intellectual property and undermine its national security.
Noting the Chinese government’s inaction in past US piracy cases, Rosen said Beijing displayed a pattern of tolerance for criminal activity by hackers who were willing to work on behalf of Chinese intelligence services.
“Unfortunately, the track record of the last few years tells us that the Chinese Communist Party has a proven history of … making China safe for its own cybercriminals, as long as they help with its goals of stealing intellectual property and stifling freedom.” said. Mr. Rosen.
Some defendants felt they could hack with impunity as long as they did not target Chinese domestic companies, prosecutors said. Said
Rosen: “Some of these criminal actors believed that their association with the People’s Republic of China gave them a free license to hack and steal around the world.”
ESPIONAGE AND VIDEO GAMING FRAUD
The extensive hacking campaign was the work of a group called Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) -41, which carries out both spying and hacking for profit, the Justice Department said.
In a report, cybersecurity firm FireEye called APT-41 “a prolific group of cyber threats” with two approaches: Chinese state-sponsored espionage and cybercrime activities targeting the video game industry for profit. personal finances.
The first indictment, delivered in August last year (2019), charged Chinese citizens Zhang Haoran, 35, and Tan Dailin, 35, of 25 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering. money and other computer fraud.
Zhang and Tan would also illegally access computer networks of video game companies to fraudulently generate digital items of value, including in-game currency and other goodies, and sell them for profit, they added.
They would also take action against other unrelated groups that also fraudulently generate gambling items, attempting to eliminate their competitors.
Another indictment last month charged three other Chinese nationals – Jiang Lizhi, 35, Qian Chuan, 39, and Fu Qiang, 37 – with nine counts of racketeering, fraud, identity theft and money laundering.
They held management positions at Chengdu404, a Chinese company based in China’s Sichuan province, where they would attack supply chains, a technique that involved gaining access to software companies and modifying their software code to further hack into customers’ customers. software vendors, prosecutors said. .
The five were not known to have resided in the United States, according to court documents.
The latest indictment, also from last month, charged Malaysian businessmen Wong Ong Hua, 46, and Ling Yang Ching, 32, both Malaysian citizens and residents, with 23 counts of extortion, conspiracy and other fraud.
Wong was the founder and CEO of Sea Gamer Mall, a Malaysian company that sold video game goods and services, including currency and other digital items, while Ling was its chief product officer.
The duo allegedly worked with other hackers, including Zhang and Tan, to illegally obtain these game products by hacking, stealing identities and laundering money, prosecutors said.
His victims include video game companies in the United States, France, South Korea, Japan and Singapore, they added.
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