#Two Chinese hackers charged with trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine research

Two Chinese hackers have been charged with attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research from government agencies and private companies, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.

The two men allegedly worked with the Chinese Ministry of State Security and the Guangdong State Security Department to conduct a “sweeping global computer intrusion campaign,” Assistant Attorney General John Demers said during a news conference.

Li Xiaoyu, 34, and Dong Jiazhi, 31, targeted intellectual property and confidential business information held by companies related to coronavirus treatment, testing and vaccines, he said.

Pharmaceutical and defense companies, high-tech manufacturing, makers of medical devices, gaming software corporations and solar energy companies were among the industries the two focused on.

“According to the indictment, these malicious cyber activities began more than 10 years ago and were ongoing as of the date of the indictment,” Demers said. “During that time, the hackers stole terabytes of data from hundreds of targets, establishing themselves as a prolific threat to U.S. and foreign networks.”

The charges allege the hackers also tried to access the accounts of non-governmental organizations, dissidents, clergy and human rights activists in the US, China and Hong Kong.

Li and Dong focused on high-tech companies in the US, Britain, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Lithuania, Spain, South Korea and Sweden.

The indictments, filed in US District Court in Washington show that Beijing is using cyber thefts as part of a worldwide campaign to “rob, replicate and replace” non-Chinese companies in the global marketplace, the Justice Department said.

Demers also noted in his remarks that China is providing a “safe haven” for criminals in exchange for their work.

“China has now taken its place, alongside Russia, Iran and North Korea, in that shameful club of nations that provide a safe haven for cyber criminals in exchange for those criminals being ‘on call’ to work for the benefit of the state, here to feed the Chinese Communist Party’s insatiable hunger for American and other non-Chinese companies’ hard-earned intellectual property, including COVID-19 research,” the assistant attorney general said.