By Shannon Tiezzi
In an unprecedented move, the U.S. Justice Department has charged 5 PLA officers with crimes related to cyber espionage
In an unprecedented move, the U.S. Justice Department has charged five officers in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with crimes related to cyber espionage. According to the Justice Department’s press release, a grand jury in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has “indicted five Chinese military hackers for computer hacking, economic espionage and other offenses directed at six American victims in the U.S. nuclear power, metals and solar products industries.” The defendants are identified as Wang Dong, Sun Kailiang, Wen Xinyu, Huang Zhenyu, and Gu Chunhui, all officers in the PLA’s Unit 61398 (alleged to be a major source of Chinese cyber attacks). The victims are Westinghouse Electric Co; U.S. subsidiaries of SolarWorld AG; U.S. Steel; Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI); the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (USW); and Alcoa Inc.
In remarks at a press conference, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder noted that the charges were “the first ever” to be filed “against known state actors for infiltrating U.S. commercial targets by cyber means.” Holder alleged that the PLA officers had stolen trade secrets and other sensitive business information “for no reason other than to advantage state-owned companies and other interests in China.” Holder concluded by saying that the case “should serve as a wake-up call to the seriousness of the ongoing cyberthreat. These criminal charges represent a groundbreaking step forward in addressing that threat.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat