COURT DOC: Two Chinese Hackers Associated With the Ministry of State Security Charged with Global Computer Intrusion Campaigns Targeting Intellectual Property and Confidential Business Information

The unsealing of an indictment charging Zhu Hua (朱华), aka Afwar, aka CVNX, aka Alayos, aka Godkiller; and Zhang Shilong (张士龙), aka Baobeilong, aka Zhang Jianguo, aka Atreexp, both nationals of the People’s Republic of China (China), with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft was announced today.

ZHU and ZHANG were members of a hacking group operating in China known within the cyber security community as Advanced Persistent Threat 10 (the ‘APT10 Group’). The defendants worked for a company in China called Huaying Haitai Science and Technology Development Company (Huaying Haitai) and acted in association with the Chinese Ministry of State Securitys Tianjin State Security Bureau. Through their involvement with the APT10 Group, from at least in or about 2006 up to and including in or about 2018, ZHU and ZHANG conducted global campaigns of computer intrusions targeting, among other data, intellectual property and confidential business and technological information at managed service providers (‘MSPs’), which are companies that remotely manage the information technology infrastructure of businesses and governments around the world, more than 45 technology companies in at least a dozen U.S. states, and U.S. government agencies. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)