China denies US Equifax hacking claims and insists it does not engage in cybercrimes
- Four People’s Liberation Army officers have been charged with stealing personal data from 147 million Americans after targeting credit agency
- Spokesman for foreign ministry says government and military do not support cyber theft and accuses America of double standards
China has denied US allegations that four officers hacked the US credit reporting agency Equifax, insisting the government and military do not steal trade secrets.
The US Justice Department on Monday charged four members of the People’s Liberation Army with stealing the personal data of more than 147 million Americans as well as corporate trade secrets.
The US Attorney General William Barr told a news conference that the 2017 hack was “a deliberate and sweeping intrusion” into the private information of Americans and was one of the largest data breaches in history.
The court documents released by the US government said Wu Zhiyong, Wang Qian, Xu Ke and Liu Lei, all members of the PLA’s 54th Research Institute, spent weeks hacking into the company’s security network and stealing personal data.
In response, Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign affairs ministry, said China is “a staunch defender of cybersecurity” and fights against cyberattacks.
“The Chinese government, military and relevant personnel never engage in cyber theft of trade secrets”, he said on Tuesday.