Four suspected hackers of Chinese nationality have been charged by the Justice Department with having committed dozens of cyber crimes against private companies, government and civil organizations, as well as Chinese government dissidents, religious and human rights activists.
In the accusation revealed Monday by the authorities, Ding Xiaoyang, Cheng Qingmin, Zhu Yunmin, and Wu Shurong are accused of belonging to a group of cyber hackers known as APT 40.
[Más de 15,000 celulares mexicanos en el objetivo del programa espía Pegasus]
Tres de ellos, Xiaoyang, Qingmin y Yunmin they allegedly worked for the Ministry of State Security of China. Although they were hiding under the facade of a computer security company with legal activities, according to US authorities.
In total, 21 entities that were victims of these hackers are listed, although they are not mentioned by name.
The accused “They hid stolen trade secrets and proprietary hydroacoustic data” in the images of a koala and former President Donald Trump, indicates the accusation.
It is a technique known as steganography, with which it is possible to hide information in plain sight within digital images, as reported by the informative website Vice News.
At first glance, they look like low-quality photographs like the many that abound on the internet. However, through them it is possible to hide large amounts of information. Islamist terrorists have used it in the past to send messages through encrypted chats with other jihadists, according to the aforementioned outlet.
[‘Hackers’ rusos exigen 70 millones de dólares tras un ataque sin precedentes a cientos de empresas]
The accusation comes as the United States denounces that China protects hackers to profit from their illicit activities.
“China has now taken a place, along with Russia, Iran and North Korea, in the shameful club of nations that provide haven for cybercriminals in exchange for these criminals working for the benefit of the state,” the secretary of state said in a statement. Assistant Justice for National Security, John C. Demers.
Its aim is to “feed the Chinese Communist Party’s insatiable appetite for the hard-earned intellectual property of US and other companies, including research on COVID-19,” added Demers.
