Chinese Intel Agents Indicted by US Again over Hacking

The DOJ (Department of Justice) of US has indicted 6 people of Chinese origin - who were allegedly paid hacker lackeys, 2 Chinese Intelligence Officers, along with 2 alleged aerospace insiders in an incident of conspiring to steal the turbofan engine technology, which was used in the commercial airliners from French and US companies. The indictment was announced on Tuesday.

The unsealed indictment, on October 25, says that from the time period of January 2010 to May 2015 - i.e. for more than five years - two spies belonging to Chinese MSS led a team comprising hackers, whose major focus was to steal the designs of turbofan engines. They also aimed at stealing the intellectual property along with business information that was confidential.

The indictment has come as the tension over hacking of intellectual property has risen between China and U.S. again. Though in September 2015, Xi Jinping (the Chinese President) and Barack Obama (the U.S. President) has struck a landmark agreement, as per which the intellectual property are to be put off-limits for the cyber spies, as posted by bankinfosecurity.com on November 1, 2018.

The aim of the hacking was to steal the designs of turbofan engines, so as to allow similar turbofan engines development within China and save the research and development cost of the country. The indictment is for third time, since the month of September, when the United States has brought charges against intelligence officers and other associates of China allegedly for stealing intellectual property. The turbofan engine was being made by an aerospace company of France, which has one office in Suzhou, Jiangsu province of China, along with a company that is US-based. The US has also alleged that this huge conspiracy has been carried out by Chinese MSS with the help of Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security (JSSD), which is one of their provincial foreign intelligence arms.

Capstone Turbine, a gas turbine manufacturer based in Los Angeles, was the first company to become the victim. The conspirators not only stole data, but also infected the company's website with the malware that will infect the site visitor's computer.

The Department of Justice further said that in September, one of the recruits in U.S. army was charged with allegations of working "as an agent of a JSSD intelligence officer, without notification to the Attorney General".

» SPAMfighter News - 11/5/2018