Department of Justice Releases Indictment
Targets Include Government Agencies, Media, and Religious Organizations
The United States has indicted 12 individuals, including agents of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and hackers affiliated with the Chinese government, on charges of hacking U.S. companies and government entities to steal information and cause damage.
On the 5th (local time), the U.S. Department of Justice announced that a federal court had made the indictment public.
According to the indictment released by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, two employees of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and eight employees of the Chinese tech company 'Aisoon' are accused of hacking Americans' email accounts, mobile phones, websites, and more from 2016 to 2023.
The Department of Justice stated, "These defendants used sophisticated hacking techniques over several years to target religious organizations, journalists, and government agencies to collect sensitive information for use by the Chinese Communist Party."
The indictment mentions that Aisoon's hacking targets included more than three news media outlets, the Department of Commerce, the International Trade Administration (ITA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), religious organizations with thousands of churches, and staff members of the New York State Legislature. Individual Americans critical of the Chinese government and a Chinese human rights organization located in Texas were also targeted. According to the Associated Press, Aisoon is a private hacking contractor that steals data from other countries and sells it to Chinese authorities.
According to the indictment, Aisoon employees either followed instructions from the Chinese government or independently selected hacking targets to steal information and sold it to various Chinese government agencies. U.S. prosecutors stated that Aisoon charged between $10,000 and $75,000 (approximately 14.41 million to 108.15 million KRW) per successfully hacked email account and provided data analysis for an additional fee. It is reported that Aisoon earned tens of millions of dollars in revenue through this process.
Separately, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia indicted two Chinese nationals, In Keocheng and Zhou Suai, who are accused of stealing data from U.S.-based technology companies, think tanks, defense contractors, government agencies, and universities since 2011 and brokering its sale.
Bloomberg reported that although they were not indicted last year for hacking the Treasury Department, prosecutors said the servers used in the attacks were controlled by accounts set up by these individuals.
The Department of Justice stated, "The Chinese Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of State Security directed or funded hackers like the defendants to conduct hacking against the United States and other countries," adding, "This case demonstrates the unique role the Chinese government plays in deliberately encouraging large-scale hacking activities by its nationals."
The indicted defendants have not yet been arrested. The U.S. State Department announced that it will offer rewards for information leading to their arrest. It also plans to offer rewards for information related to Aisoon. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added Zhou Suai and his company, Shanghai Haiming Information Technology Company, to the sanctions list in connection with this case. This company had employed In Keocheng and others.
Liu Fengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., told Bloomberg regarding this matter, "We urge the United States to stop using cybersecurity issues to slander China."
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