An indictment was unsealed today charging seven nationals of the People's Republic of China with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their involvement in a PRC-based hacking group that spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials in furtherance of the PRC's economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives.
"Over 10,000 malicious emails, impacting thousands of victims, across multiple continents. As alleged in today's indictment, this prolific global hacking operation - backed by the PRC government - targeted journalists, political officials, and companies to repress critics of the Chinese regime, compromise government institutions, and steal trade secrets," said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
Through their involvement with the APT31 Group, since at least 2010, the defendants conducted global campaigns of computer hacking targeting political dissidents and perceived supporters located inside and outside of China, government and political officials, candidates, and campaign personnel in the United States and elsewhere and American companies.
These activities resulted in the confirmed and potential compromise of economic plans, intellectual property, and trade secrets belonging to American businesses, and contributed to the estimated billions of dollars lost every year as a result of the PRC's state-sponsored apparatus to transfer U.S. technology to the PRC. Targeting of U.S. Government Officials and U.S. and Foreign Politicians and Campaigns.
The allegations in the indictment regarding the malicious cyber activity targeting political officials, candidates, and campaign personnel are consistent with the March 2021 Joint Report of the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security on Foreign Interference Targeting Election Infrastructure or Political Organization, Campaign, or Candidate Infrastructure Related to the 2020 US Federal Elections.
The indictment's allegations nonetheless serve to underscore the need for U.S. political organizations, candidates, and campaigns to remain vigilant in their cybersecurity posture and in otherwise protecting their sensitive information from foreign intelligence services, particularly in light of the U.S. Intelligence Community's recent assessment that "[t]he PRC may attempt to influence the U.S. elections in 2024 at some level because of its desire to sideline critics of China and magnify U.S. societal divisions.
The charged defendants' roles in the conspiracy consisted of testing and exploiting the malware used to conduct these intrusions, managing infrastructure associated with these intrusions, and conducting surveillance and intrusions against specific U.S. entities.
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