Feds name and charge alleged Silk Typhoon spies behind years of China-on-US attacks

US government agencies announced Wednesday criminal charges against alleged members of China's Silk Typhoon gang, plus internet domain seizures linked to a long-term Chinese espionage campaign that saw Beijing hire miscreants to compromise US government agencies and other major orgs. "For years, the PRC government [People’s Republic of China] – in particular, its Ministries of State and Public Security – have encouraged, supported and relied on private contractors and Chinese technology companies to hack and steal information in a manner that hides the government's involvement, essentially providing it the form of plausible deniability," a Justice Department official said on a call with reporters attended by The Register earlier today. A representative of the FBI also spoke on the call, which covered matters including freshly unsealed indictments that name 12 Chinese nationals charged for their suspected roles in a Chinese government operation to compromise computers and steal data from high-profile targets, including the US Treasury. Two of these individuals are alleged to be officers at China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS). We’re told the other ten named suspects are employees of a private firm, Anxun Information Technology, better known as i-Soon, and members of China's APT27, aka Silk Typhoon. "Each of these defendants played a critical role in the PRC government hacker-for-hire ecosystem, which by any measure, has gotten out of control," a Justice Department officia...