Justice Dept. Indicts 12 Chinese in Hacking Plot Against U.S. Targets

The Justice Department on Wednesday unsealed charges against a dozen Chinese citizens accused of being part of a sophisticated hacking ring that steals data from American businesses and people to sell to the Chinese government and others.

In twin indictments in New York and Washington, the U.S. government laid out detailed charges against a hacking operation whose targets included an American defense contractor, a law firm and a news organization.

The indictments described a “hackers for hire” black market in China devised to give its government plausible deniability that it conducted operations against U.S. entities. American officials, however, said the evidence showed that the private-sector actors often took orders from two members of China’s Ministry of Public Security.

The 12 indicted people are highly unlikely to appear in an American courtroom to face charges. But their cases are part of the U.S. government’s long-running “name and shame” policy to impose some costs on the Chinese government and its hackers for what it describes as an ambitious and unrelenting campaign against targets in the United States.

The charges come at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries after President Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, which have led to a trade war not only between the two countries but also with Mexico and Canada.

The New York indictment is largely focused on hacking work that employees of a company called i-Soon are accused of doing for China.