The United States Department of Justice on Tuesday announced charges against two individuals for the hacking of hundreds of organizations worldwide, including governments and COVID-19 responders.
The two, Li Xiaoyu, 34, and Dong Jiazhi, 33, both nationals and residents of China, are accused to have conducted computer intrusion activities on behalf of the Chinese government for more than 10 years.
Victims of the two include governments, non-governmental organizations, companies, human rights activists, clergy, and dissidents in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, and more.
Li and Dong, the DoJ says, targeted a broad range of industries, including high tech manufacturing, engineering, software, solar energy, pharmaceuticals, and defense. Recently, they targeted the networks of organizations “developing COVID-19 vaccines, testing technology, and treatments,” DoJ says.
According to the 11-count indictment, the hackers used RAR files to exfiltrate data, changed file names and timestamps, and hid programs and documents at specific locations on the compromised networks, including the victim’s Recycle Bin.
The indictment alleges that the two conspired to steal trade secrets from eight victims, including manufacturing processes, pharmaceutical chemical structures, source code, technology designs, and test mechanisms and results.
“Such information would give competitors with a market edge by providing insight into proprietary business plans and savings on research and development costs in creating competing products,” the DoJ says.
The hackers allegedly stole hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of secrets, intellectual property, and other data, and even attempted to extort at least one of the victims, threatening to make the stolen information public unless a ransom was paid.
Li and Dong, ..
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