Chinese nationals charged with trade secrets theft in US
Three Chinese nationals have been charged with hacking the computers of credit agency Moody’s, German conglomerate Siemens and electronic manufacturer Trimble, and for theft of Trimble’s trade secrets.
The indictment alleged that between 2011 and May 2017, the three defendants hacked into computers to maintain unauthorised access to, and steal, sensitive documents and communications.
According to the indictment, which was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and was unsealed yesterday, November 27, the defendants accessed Trimble’s networks in January 2016 and stole trade secrets.
In 2015 and 2016, Trimble was developing technology for global navigation satellite systems designed to improve the accuracy of location data on mobile devices.
When the Chinese nationals allegedly accessed the network, they stole files containing commercial business documents and data pertaining to the technology.
Wu Yingzhuo, Dong Hao and Xia Lei, the defendants, work for the purported China-based internet security firm Guangzhou Bo Yu Information Technology Company.
The defendants stole at least 275 megabytes of data from Trimble, which included hundreds of files that “would have assisted a Trimble competitor in developing, providing and marketing a similar product without incurring millions of dollars in research and development costs”.
Dana Boente, acting assistant attorney general for national security, said: “Once again, the Department of Justice and the FBI have demonstrated that hackers around the world who are seeking to steal our companies’ most sensitive and valuable information can, and will, be exposed and held accountable.”
An indictment is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
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