Harbin Public Security Bureau:
"Related to UC Berkeley and Virginia Tech"
Announcement by the Harbin Public Security Bureau in China: "Wanted for Three Suspects in US Cyber Attacks and Confidential Information Theft." CCTV
Chinese authorities have announced that there was a cyberattack by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) targeting the Harbin Winter Asian Games earlier this year, and have issued wanted notices for three NSA agents.
On the 15th, state-run Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television (CCTV) reported, citing the Harbin Public Security Bureau, that Chinese authorities decided to issue wanted notices for three NSA agents: Catherine A. Wilson, Robert J. Snelling, and Steven W. Johnson.
They explained that there was an overseas cyberattack on the Harbin Winter Asian Games held in February this year, and investigations revealed that three NSA agents, along with two American universities?University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)?participated in the attack.
Furthermore, the cyberattack was carried out by the NSA’s Information Directorate (code name S), Data Reconnaissance Bureau (code name S3), under the Special Access Operations Office (TAO, code name S32). They reportedly anonymously leased and utilized Internet Protocol (IP) addresses from countries in Europe and Asia.
Foreign media claimed that the NSA not only disrupted the normal operation of the Asian Games but also launched attacks on key industrial facilities in Heilongjiang Province, including energy, transportation, water resources, telecommunications, and defense research universities, asserting that the intent was "to destroy critical information infrastructure, cause social disorder, and steal important secrets."
It was also reported that these three American agents have a history of conducting cyberattacks on China’s core infrastructure, including Chinese IT companies such as Huawei.
The Harbin Public Security Bureau added that it will offer rewards to informants who provide clues and to those who assist in arresting the suspects.
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