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back to article Chinese IT security bods accused of siphoning US GPS, biz blueprints

Three Chinese nationals went on a six-year hacking spree against American targets, siphoning financial reports and tech blueprints, US prosecutors allege. Wu Yingzhuo, Dong Hao and Xia Lei, all thought to be residing in the city of Guangzhou, China, stand accused of eight counts of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Holds water?

    Reading this article left me feeling a bit bemused because it's difficult to see what it will achieve and who will benefit from it.

    I'm also curious as to how so much specific detail about exactly what was done, including file sizes, and the identities of the accused, could be obtained when the alleged acts were done remotely from China.

    Finally, I'm a bit surprised that the development of "a new kind of antenna for commercial global positioning satellites" should take three years and cost 'millions'.

    I'm sure that there is a point to bringing this case but whatever it is eludes me.

    3 0 Reply
  2. Duncan Macdonald

    Why bother ?

    All that filing this case does is to make it sure that the accused will not visit the US. The chance that they will ever face a US court is only slightly higher than the chance that the US will have an honest government.

    5 0 Reply
  3. sitta_europea Silver badge

    [quote]Another target was the industrial conglomerate Siemens, and the phishing campaign netted at least two major staffers in the US in 2014. Using stolen login credentials Dong is accused of stealing 407GB of proprietary information from its energy, technology and transport departments.[/quote]

    Couldn't have happened to a nicer firm.

    2 1 Reply
  4. rmason

    It's just..

    It's just Sabre rattling.

    Nothing will ever come of it and all involved know that.

    The important thing is there's been a round of headlines for one news cycle in the states saying things like "chinese hackers charged!!" on Fox.

    That's the bit Joe Public remembers.

    They get to sit there and think "ahhhhh, America" as they slot the 'knowledge' neatly into the way they think the world works.

    5 0 Reply
  5. Paul Crawford Silver badge
    Trollface

    "exploit a zero-day flaw in Internet Explorer to infect Windows PCs, proved very successful"

    Something for Munich council to look forward to. Assuming they have anything worth copying...

    "Wu got into the Trimble servers, it is claimed, and prepared a 252MB .zip archive containing trade secrets. The file contained 773 pages of technical specifications, business documents and design blueprints, as well as plans to bring the new hardware to market"

    Well he is doing a damn sight better that anyone I know going to the Trimble web site and actually trying to find and buy a product they make. So I'm looking for, say a GPS module, so how do I find a list? You are right! I need to know what sort of industry I'm in, or application! Sweet fsck-all to do with the technical performance or specifications that any sane engineer would start with.

    3 0 Reply
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Terminator

    Commie cyber intruders steal secret tech blueprints from computers

    "Three Chinese nationals went on a six-year hacking spree against American targets, siphoning financial reports and tech blueprints, US prosecutors allege."

    Well, don't keep your secret blueprints on a 'computer' connected to the Internet.

    "One victim was a high-profile member of the company, and the attackers managed to set up a redirect on his inbox so that they got copies of all messages, including financial analysis and buying recommendations, for at least three years

    What dumbass was responciple for security at Moody's and didn't notice someone hacking the E-mail for at least three years?

    "Using stolen login credentials Dong"

    Don't you mean using copied login credentials and presumably by 'the Dong! -- the Dong! the Dong with a luminous Nose!' ref

    Sending someone a phishing email isn't exactly the height of sofistication as it's liable to trigger an alarm, neither is allowing someone to track the malware back to a C&C server and neither is getting caught. It would have been simpler to get a job at Siemens and copy the 407GBs onto writable DVDs disguised as Nickelback music CDs.

    What's with the figure in the hoodie, a good hacker is most likely going to look like one of the catering staff or the aircon people.

    2 1 Reply

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