US charges Chinese hackers who targeted government dissidents

American prosecutors accused 12 Chinese citizens of being part of the alleged piracy scheme, which has sold data about dissidents in the United States of the Chinese government.

The “sponsored” operation was targeted by government agencies, including the Ministry of Treasury, according to the Ministry of Justice.

The statement added that the infiltrators also targeted an American religious organization and a newspaper in Hong Kong.

China did not respond to these specific allegations, but it has strongly denied other accusations in the past.

In December, Treasury In report a “main” breach By Chinese infiltrators, saying that they were able to reach employee and some non -classified documents.

At that time, China denied any involvement, describing the accusation as “unfounded” and saying “constantly opposes all forms of piracy.”

It is not clear when the most recent charge of the Ministry of Justice was issued – but it was neglected in a federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday.

Among the accused individuals were officers of the Ministry of Public Security in China.

The Ministry of Justice said that the infiltrators, which seemed to represent a private company, I-SOON, imposed Chinese agencies between 10,000 dollars and $ 75,000 for each “exploited” e-mail fund.

He claims that they “conducted computer interventions” under the supervision of the Chinese ministries and their own amplifiers, and they were “wonderfully driven by stolen data.”

“Today, we offer Chinese government agents who direct and play random and reckless attacks against computers and networks all over the world,” said Suj Bay, who heads the National Security Department at the Ministry of Justice.

She added: “We will continue to fight in order to dismantle this ecosystem of electronic mercenaries and protect our national security.”

No more details were provided about the target defectors in the United States.

The religious organization that the infiltrators struck was described as “previously sent to missionaries to China and was openly criticizing the PRC government.” PRC is short for the People’s Republic of China.

Hong Kong was also on the list. Although it was not called, the statement said it was “an opposition to the government of the People’s Republic of China.”

In addition to the American agencies, it was said that the infiltrators targeted the foreign ministries in Taiwan, India, South Korea and Indonesia.

Last October, the FBI, the Cyber ​​Security Agency and the infrastructure said that the infiltrators targeting two main campaigns for the United States of the United States It was implemented by “Actor of the People’s Republic of China”.

Earlier last year, Seven Chinese citizens have been charged With at least 14 years of a 14 -year penetration process and targeting foreign critics in China.

The operations associated with Western governments in China also targeted the Electoral Committee in the United Kingdom, parliaments in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

As part of the long-term rewards program, the US State Department said it would provide up to $ 10 million to obtain information about I-SOON, its employees and Chinese officials “participating in the malicious Internet activities that were highlighted in the accusations of the Ministry of Justice.”