WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday indicted two Chinese nationals over their role in what the agency called a decade-long cyber espionage campaign that targeted defense contractors, COVID researchers and hundreds of other victims worldwide.
U.S. authorities said Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi stole terabytes of weapons designs, drug information, software source code, and personal data from targets that included dissidents and Chinese opposition figures. They were contractors for the Chinese government, rather than full-fledged spies, U.S. officials said.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General for National Security John Demers said at a virtual news convention that hackers showed that China is “in a position to turn a blind eye to prolific hackers operating within its borders.”
The Chinese Embassy in Washington referred Reuters to recent comments by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs that “China has long been a major victim of THEFT and PC attacks” and that its officials “oppose and vigorously combat” those activities.
An indictment published Tuesday (July 7) alleges that Li and Dong were contractors with the Chinese State Ministry of Security, or MSS, a company comparable to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. to penetrate targets and gather intelligence. Targets included protesters in Hong Kong, the Dalai Lama and a Chinese Christian non-profit organization.
As early as Jan. 27, as the coronavirus outbreak was coming into focus, the hackers were trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine research of an unidentified Massachusetts biotech firm, the indictment said.
It is not known if something was stolen, but one expert said the claim showed the “extremely high value” that governments like China were giving to COVID-related research.
He noted that the Chinese had long relied on contractors for their cyberespionage operations.
“The use of these self-employed workers allows the government a greater diversity of talent, while providing some denial in conducting those operations,” Read said.
Reporting through Chris Sanders; Edited through Chizu Nomiyama and Richard Chang
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