DOJ charges 4 Chinese nationals with state-backed worldwide hacking campaign

The Justice Department on Monday released an indictment charging four Chinese nationals with state-backed worldwide hacking campaign.

The Justice Department on Monday Monday announced the unsealing of an indictment charging four Chinese nationals with a years-long effort to hack into computer systems of dozens of companies, universities and governments in the U.S. and at least 11 other countries. The two-count indictment, returned by a grand jury in May but unsealed just last Friday, names four residents of China in connection to the scheme -- three of whom are identified as officers with the Hainan State Security Department, an arm of China’s intelligence service. Ding Xaioyang, Cheng Qingmin, Zhu Yunmin, and Wu Shurong had one goal, according to court documents: install malware on protected computers and steal the data on the computers. The indictment alleges that the HSSD created a front company to "identify and recruit talented computer hackers to penetrate foreign entities (including foreign universities) and steal trade secrets, proprietary data and to recruit talented linguists to interpret the stolen material."