U.S. charges Chinese hackers for targeting COVID-19 vaccine research

U.S. says China backed hackers who targeted COVID-19 vaccine research The indictment said that the hackers operated both for their own profit and also for the main Chinese intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security. YahooNews

WASHINGTON — In the latest attempt to "name and shame" China’s government-sponsored cyber theft, the Justice Department announced an indictment Tuesday charging two Chinese nationals — both in China — with hacking governments, dissidents, human rights activists and private companies, including those engaged in COVID-19 vaccine research.

The indictment says the hackers operated both for their own profit and also for the main Chinese intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security. It says they were assisted by an unnamed Chinese intelligence officer known to the grand jury.

At a news conference in Washington, top Justice Department and FBI officials used some of their strongest language to date in condemning China as a rogue cyber thief, putting China in the same category as Russia, Iran and North Korea, the top U.S. adversaries.

“China is using cyber intrusions as part of its ‘rob, replicate and replace’ campaign” for development," said John Demers, the assistant attorney general for national security, calling the hacking “yet another example of China’s brazen willingness to engage in theft through computer intrusions in defiance of international agreements."

He added that “China’s anti-competitive behavior…is a global issue,” and that, by allowing hackers to operate unmolested, "China has now taken its place alongside Russia, Iran and North Korea on that shameful list of countries” that tolerate criminal hacking within its borders.