This combination of images released by the FBI yesterday shows five Chinese hacking suspects. The US charged five members of a shadowy Chinese military unit for allegedly hacking US companies for trade secrets, infuriating Beijing which suspended co-operation on cyber issues. The grand jury indicted each of the five - Wang Dong, Sun Kailiang, Wen Xinyu, Huang Zhenyu and Gu Chunhui - on 31 counts, which each carry penalties of up to 15 years in prison.


Reuters/Washington/Boston

A US grand jury has indicted five Chinese military officers on charges of hacking into American companies for information on nuclear plant design, solar manufacturing and other secrets in the toughest action taken by Washington to address cyber spying.
China denied the charges, saying they were “made up” and would damage trust between the two nations. The Chinese foreign ministry said it would suspend the activities of a Sino-US Internet working group.
Officials in Washington have argued for years that cyber espionage is one of the nation’s top national security concerns because foreign hackers have stolen secrets from defense contractors and technology secrets that could pose a threat to US prosperity.
Yet the indictments mark the first time the US has filed charges against specific officials of foreign governments, accusing them of corporate cyber spying.
“When a foreign nation uses military or intelligence resources and tools against an American executive or corporation to obtain trade secrets or sensitive business information for the benefit of its state-owned companies, we must say, ‘enough is enough,’” US Attorney General Eric Holder said at a press conference.
Washington announced the charges as new claims emerged last week about the scope of overseas spying by the US. Cisco Systems Inc responded by asking President Barack Obama to curtail government surveillance programs.
Federal prosecutors said the suspects targeted companies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the nuclear power, metal and solar energy industries.
Targets included Alcoa Inc, Allegheny Technologies Inc, US Steel Corp, Westinghouse Electric Co, US subsidiaries of SolarWorld AG and a steel workers’ union, Department of Justice officials said.
Officials declined to estimate the size of the losses to the US companies at issue, but said they were “significant.”
Some of the companies gave their response to the indictments.
“We are happy that the American government is taking the initiative now and we support the US authorities’ investigations to investigate this under criminal law,” SolarWorld CEO Frank Asbeck said in a statement.
Alcoa spokeswoman Monica Orbe said: “To our knowledge, no material information was compromised.”
US Steel declined to comment.
The move “indicates that DOJ has ‘smoking keyboards’ and (is) willing to bring the evidence to a court of law and be more transparent,” said Frank Cilluffo, head of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at the George Washington University.
American businesses have long urged the government to act against cyber espionage from abroad, particularly by China.
Secret US State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks traced major systems breaches to China, Reuters reported in 2011. One 2009 cable pinpointed attacks to a specific unit of China’s People’s Liberation Army.
Skeptics said US authorities wouldn’t be able to arrest those indicted as Beijing would not hand them over. Still, the move would prevent the individuals from traveling to the US or other countries that have an extradition agreement with the US.
“It won’t slow China down,” said Eric Johnson, dean of the business school at Vanderbilt University and an expert on cyber security issues.