A dozen Chinese nationals have been charged by US prosecutors for hacking, among others, US dissidents, the foreign ministries of several governments in Asia, US federal and state government agencies, and selling the data to the Chinese government.
The US Treasury, numerous US news organisations and a US religious organisation that had sent missionaries to China and was critical of the PRC government, were also named as those hacked in the indictment brought against the malicious cyber actors by the Justice Department (DOJ). The actors charged included two officers of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Ministry of Public Security (MPS), who were also employees of a company known as “i-Soon” and members of the Chinese threat group APT27.
i-Soon generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue from their illegal activities. These included cyber intrusions, from which the data each successfully exploited email inbox was sold to dozens of different bureaus of the MSS or MPS for anywhere between US$10,000 and US$75,000.
Two of the charged APT27 actors, Yin Kecheng and Zhou Shuai - also known as “Coldface” - had internet domains and computer server accounts seized. Both men remain at large.
As well as a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of those engaged in malicious cyber activities against US critical infrastructure (list below), the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announced rewards of up to $2 million each for information leading to the arrests and convictions of Yin and Zhou, both of whom reside in China.
“The FBI is committed to protecting Americans from foreign cyber-attacks,” said Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran of the FBI’s Cyber Division. “Today’s announcements reveal that the Chinese Ministry of Public Security has been paying hackers-for-hire to inflict digital harm on Americans who criticize the Chinese Communist Party.”
The $10 million reward relates to the following, who allegedly have worked for i-Soon:
Wu Haibo (吴海波), Chief Executive Officer
Chen Cheng (陈诚), Chief Operating Officer
Wang Zhe (王哲), Sales Director
Liang Guodong (梁国栋), Technical Staff
Ma Li (马丽), Technical Staff
Wang Yan (王堰), Technical Staff
Xu Liang (徐梁), Technical Staff
Zhou Weiwei (周伟伟), Technical Staff
Wang Liyu (王立宇), MPS Officer
Sheng Jing (盛晶), MPS Office
