US prosecutors have charged three Chinese nationals affiliated with a cyber security company in China with hacking into Siemens AG, Trimble Inc and Moody’s Analytics to steal business secrets. An indictment unsealed on Monday in federal court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, charged the three with launching “coordinated and unauthorized” cyber attacks between 2011 and 2017. The defendants were identified as Wu Yingzhuo, Dong Hao and Xia Lei. The indictment said they were owners, employees and associates of Guangzhou Bo Yu Information Technology Company, a firm located in Guangzhou, that offers cyber security services. Two US government officials told Reuters that Guangzhou Bo Yu, also known as Boyusec, is affiliated with China’s People’s Liberation Army Unit 61398, and that most if not all its hacking operations are state-sponsored and directed. The acting US attorney for Western Pennsylvania, Soo C. Song, said arrest warrants had been issued for the three men, but the case was not being prosecuted as state-sponsored hacking.
China Economic Review