The Justice Department unsealed an indictment on Monday charging seven Chinese nationals with working under the guise of a Wuhan tech company to coordinate cyber-attacks targeting politicians and American companies on behalf of the Chinese government for over a decade. The defendants — Ni Gaobin, Weng Ming, Cheng Feng, Peng Yaowen, Sun Xiaohui. Xiong Wang, and Zhao Guangzong — are charged in connection to China’s vast hacking operation that allegedly targeted sensitive data from U.S.
Between June and September 2018, the seven defendants sent more than 10,000 malicious email messages to professional and personal email addresses belonging to 'high-ranking U.S. government officials and their advisors, including officials involved in international policy and foreign trade issues,' the indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York says.
The United States is focused on both disrupting the dangerous and irresponsible actions of malicious cyber actors, as well as protecting our citizens and our critical infrastructure,' Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a statement.