America and China set for clash as five from Chinese Army are accused of stealing secrets from US firms
The US Department of Justice has filed charges against five members of the China’s People’s Liberation Army, accusing them of stealing trade secrets from American companies . It is the first time the United States has charged government employees with economic espionage, according to law enforcement officials.
Eric Holder: "Increase tensions"
At a news conference in Washington, the Justice Department said it was searching for five people: Wang Dong, Sun Kailiang, Wen Xinyu, Huang Zhenyu and Gu Chunhui.
Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said the men “have targeted the U.S. private sector for commercial advantage.” But the New York Times commented, ""It is unlikely that any of them will ever be brought to trial in the United States."
“We allege that members of Unit 61398 conspired to hack into computers of six U.S. victims to steal information that would provide an economic advantage to the victims’ competitors, including Chinese state-owned enterprises,” Holder said.
The Justice Department said that the men were indicted on May 1 by a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania and charged with conspiring to commit computer fraud and accessing a computer without authorisation for the purpose of commercial advantage.
Holder gave examples of the damage done by the hackers.
He said that while SolarWorld was rapidly losing its market share to Chinese competitors pricing exports well below cost, the hackers were stealing cost, pricing and strategy information from SolarWorld’s computers. And while Westinghouse was negotiating with a Chinese state-owned enterprise over the construction of nuclear power plants, he said, the hackers stole trade secret designs for components of those plants.
In 2013, amid reports that detailed the extent of Chinese hacking of American companies and corporations, American officials pressed the Chinese government to stop its military from compromising American systems.
United States officials pointed to a report released by Mandiant, an American security firm, as evidence that the Chinese government was behind the attacks. The report said that an overwhelming percentage of attacks on American corporations and government agencies were being conducted by a unit of the Chinese Army.
Mandiant said the attacks were coming from Chinese hacking groups, known to many of its victims in the United States as “Comment Crew” or “Shanghai Group,” that were based in a 12-story white office tower on a Chinese Army base on the outskirts of Shanghai.
In March, it was revealed that the National Security Agency had created a back door into the computer networks of Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications giant that is considered a threat by the United States. The N.S.A. has also tracked more than 20 Chinese hacking groups — including some from the Chinese Army and Navy — that have broken into American government networks and companies. The companies included Google, and drone and nuclear-weapon part makers.
In a separate case, the department was to announce charges later on Monday against several people who used hacking software called Blackshades. The software allows hackers to remotely control a computer.