Chinese businessman charged with hacking US military contractors' computers

US authorities have charged a Chinese businessman with hacking into the computer systems of US companies with large military contracts, including Boeing, to steal data on projects including some of the latest fighter jets.

Suspect Su Bin worked with two unnamed Chinese hackers to get the data between 2009 and 2013, and Su attempted to sell some of the information to state-owned Chinese companies, prosecutors said on Friday.

The three hackers targeted fighter jets such as the F-22 and the F-35 as well as Boeing's C-17 military cargo aircraft programme, according to a criminal complaint filed in a US court that was unsealed on Thursday. A lawyer for Su could not be reached for comment.

Su was arrested in Canada on June 28 and remains in custody there, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation said. He has a bail hearing set for July 18.

Su owns an aviation-technology company called Lode-Tech and is in contact with Chinese military and commercial aerospace entities. The two unidentified Chinese individuals are "affiliated with multiple organisations and entities in the PRC", according to US prosecutors.

They are involved with an "entity" that has set up technology bases and does surveillance work and intelligence collection outside China to "avoid diplomatic and legal complications", according to the complaint, citing a report one of the two individuals sent to the other.