INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Department on Thursday indicted two Chinese hackers tied to Beijing's security services who allegedly targeted companies and agencies in a
dozen countries, which US officials said showed President Xi Jinping had not fulfilled his pledge to stop cybercrime.Deputy Attorney General
Rod Rosenstein said the move was being made to rebuff "China's economic aggression."The Justice Department said the hackers had targeted
numerous managed service providers (MSPs), specialist firms which help other companies manage their information technology systems --
potentially giving hackers an entry into the computer networks of dozens of companies.Companies who were hacked were not named, but 45
victims in the United States included key government agencies -- the NASA Goddard Space Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Department
of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the US Navy, where the personal information of more than 100,000 personnel was
stolen.Internationally, the hackers accessed the computers of a major bank, three telecommunications or consumer electronics companies,
mining and health care companies, and business consultancies.'Unacceptable'Rosenstein slammed Beijing for repeatedly violating a pledge made
by Xi to then-president Barack Obama in 2015 to halt cyber-attacks on US companies and commercial infrastructure."These defendants allegedly
compromised MSP clients in at least a dozen countries," Rosenstein said
"It is unacceptable that we continue to uncover cybercrime committed by China against other nations.""We want China to cease its illegal
cyber activities and honor its commitment to the international community," he said
"But the evidence suggests that China may not intend to live up to its promises."In London, the Foreign Office likewise accused China of not
living up to their bilateral agreement against hacking driven by commercial and economic motives."These activities must stop
They go against the commitments made to the UK in 2015, and, as part of the G20, not to conduct or support cyber-enabled theft of
intellectual property or trade secrets," Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a statement.APT10 hacking groupThe Justice Department said
the two hackers, Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong, worked for the so-called APT10 group which Washington, London and other allies say is backed by
China's Ministry of State Security.From at least 2006 to 2018, the APT10 Group "conducted extensive campaigns of intrusions into computer
systems around the world," the US Justice Department said.APT10 stole "hundreds of gigabytes" of sensitive data and information from its
targets, invading their systems through the hacked MSPs.The indictments of the two hackers came less than two months after US indicted 10
Chinese also linked to APT10, including two intelligence officers, over a five-year scheme to steal aircraft engine technology from US and
French aerospace firms.Those cases involved both hacking and recruiting insiders to steal data and IT system passwords.Heightened
TensionsRelations between Washington and Beijing are already frayed over trade, hacking and geopolitical issues.In October, the Department
of Justice obtained the unprecedented extradition of a senior Chinese intelligence official from Belgium to stand trial in the United States
for running the effort to steal US aviation industry secrets.In early December, Canada arrested an executive of China's leading Huawei
telecommunications company at Washington's request.The US plans to charge her with fraud charges related to sanctions-breaking business
dealings with Iran.Since then, China has detained three Canadians, in an apparent bid to pressure Ottawa into fully releasing the Huawei
executive, who is now out on bail.And, according to reports, US officials believe Chinese government-linked hackers were behind the theft of
data on some 500 million guests of hotel giant Marriott, first reported on November 30.Last week, Bill Priestap, head of the FBI's
counterintelligence division, told Congress that China's cyber-attacks are part of a broad campaign to demote the United States from its
leadership position in the world."The Chinese government is attempting to acquire or steal not only the plans and intentions of the United
States government, but also the ideas and innovations of the very people that make our economy so incredibly successful," he said.(Except
for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
