A Chinese businessman has pleaded guilty to conspiring to hack into the computer systems of U.S. defense contractors, including Boeing, to steal data on military projects, according to court records released Wednesday.
Su Bin, 50, admitted to conspiring with two unnamed hackers in China to export U.S. military information to the communist nation between 2008 and 2014, according to a plea agreement reached in federal California court on Tuesday.
The men targeted fighter jets such as the F-22 and the F-35, as well as Boeing’s C-17 military cargo aircraft program, according to court papers.
Su’s attorney, Robert Anello, declined to discuss the case in detail except to say that Su is “hopeful to move on with his life.”
Su, described by prosecutors as a China-based businessman in the aviation and aerospace fields, faces up to five years in federal prison at his sentencing July 13. He had faced 30 years before reaching the plea agreement with prosecutors.
Su was arrested in British Columbia, Canada in July 2014 and brought to the U.S. in February.
As part of the conspiracy, prosecutors say Su would email the hackers in China explaining what people, companies and technology to target. Once data was stolen, prosecutors say Su would translate it from English to Chinese, and email the value of the information to those who benefited from its theft.
U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said in a statement Wednesday that cybercrime is one of the most serious national security threats.
Su’s “guilty plea and conviction demonstrate that these criminals can be held accountable no matter where they are located in the world and that we are deeply committed to protecting our sensitive data in order to keep our nation safe.”
Cybersecurity has become an increasingly sore point in U.S.-China relations.
A report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission last year found that China’s increasing use of cyber espionage has already cost U.S. companies tens of billions of dollars in lost sales and expenses in repairing the damage from hacking. In many cases, the report says stolen trade secrets have been turned over to Chinese government-owned companies.
“The United States is ill-prepared to defend itself from cyber espionage when its adversary is determined, centrally coordinated, and technically sophisticated, as is the CCP and China’s government,” according to the report, referring to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
I bet they have all of Hillery’s email.
EXACTLY what i was thinking, Geraldine!
Maybe the FBI should make a deal with Chinese hackers to get the info that the Justice Department is hiding…or has destroyed…then let the prosecutions commence in earnest!
Geraldine-
Yes, i believe the same. i’m also curious as to whether or not the FBI has approached the Russians, the Indians(of India), the Koreans, the British, the French, the Germans, and any other foreign country’s intelligence service to ask if they have The Liar’s emails – at the very least, so they can compare what they (eventually) get from the (IN)Justice Department, so that they can then bust the criminals there for Obstruction of Justice, etc., too.
IMO, criminal oath-breakers need to be identified then removed from gov’t positions ASAP. If this does not happen, Americans stand ZERO chance of regaining control of their ostensible Public Servants and putative Public Employees.
i believe that the F&F were extremely wise to require every office-holder to take an oath of office; unfortunately, from my investigations, no one has EVER been arrested for violating it, much less prosecuted, much less jailed/fined/kicked out of any further employment on the public dime at a minimum for betraying the Public Trust and/or being too damned stupid to understand the very document they’ve sworn to “preserve, protect, and defend” “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Wait. Cybercrime is one of the most serious national security threats? And, it’s punishable by 30 years in federal prison? Yet, a 5 year prison term has been ironed out? So do we pay them a dividend and add more years to their lives, not prison lives, if they commit a non-serious crime. We could hire people for much cheaper if we hired non-attorneys to convict people like Mr. Su. It would at least save the country a lot of money. Are we going to pay Mr. Su an allowance while he is idling his time watching colored HD TV? Just as soon, don’t you think? He sure as hell is not being punished for his crime, is he? Oh, maybe it was not a crime, right?
As, ROME burns.!!!!!!!!!.
Maybe the Feds could offer him an olive branch in exchange for a complete disclosure of his techniques and methods. Could be a good trade.