The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 12 Chinese nationals in connection with a hacking scheme that allegedly involved selling data on U.S. dissidents to the Chinese government. This state-sponsored operation also targeted U.S. agencies and an American religious organization. Two officers from China’s Ministry of Public Security were among those charged. According to the DOJ, hackers, reportedly from a private firm named i-Soon, charged substantial fees for email inboxes they exploited. China has denied previous accusations but has not commented on these latest charges.
Today, we are exposing the Chinese government agents directing and fostering indiscriminate and reckless attacks against computers and networks worldwide," said Sue J Bai, who heads the DOJ's National Security Division.
The hackers, which appeared to represent a private company, i-Soon, charged Chinese agencies between $10,000 and $75,000 for each "exploited" email inbox.
China has not responded to these specific allegations, but has strongly denied other accusations in the past, calling them 'baseless'.
In December, the Treasury Department reported a 'major' breach by Chinese-sponsored hackers, saying they were able to access employee workstations and some unclassified documents.
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