US indicts 10 Chinese intelligence agents following ‘hack on US and European aviation companies’

The US Justice Department has charged a group of Chinese agents with trying to steal aviation technology from US companies, the third such indictment in less than two months in an escalating effort to halt cyber-espionage allegedly orchestrated from China.

A group of 10 people, led by agents of the Jiangsu provincial arm of China Ministry of State Security (MSS) tried to hack into the computer systems of a US company and a French company with an office in Suzhou, China, both manufacturers of a turbofan engine used in commercial airliners, the Justice Department (DoJ) alleged on Tuesday. Members of the group also targeted other US aerospace companies producing parts for the engine makers, it said.

“The threat posed by Chinese government-sponsored hacking activity is real and relentless,” John Brown, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego Field Office, said in the DoJ notice, which alleges that the hacking conspiracy likely ran from January 2010 to May 2015.

“Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of our private sector, international and US government partners, is sending a strong message to the Chinese government and other foreign governments involved in hacking activities.

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The DoJ says that the primary intelligence officers were MSS agents Zha Rong and Chai Meng, while their co-conspirators included Zhang Zhang-Gui, Liu Chunliang, Gao Hong Kun, Zhuang Xiaowei and Ma Zhiqi. The indictment identified 12 targeted companies – eight of them based in the US – specialising in aerospace, technology or “critical infrastructure”. Two of the aerospace companies are French and one is British. The list also includes one Australian domain registrar.