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Iranian, Chinese nationals charged in high-tech information theft
Iranian, Chinese nationals charged in high-tech information theft
by Mark Moran
Washington DC (UPI) Feb 7, 2024

The Justice Department has arrested one man and charged two others in connection with schemes to transfer sensitive technology, goods and information into the hands of hostile foreign adversaries, officials announced Wednesday.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in New York charged two Iranian nationals with conspiring to export equipment used in the aerospace industry to the Iranian government, which violates the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

They are charged with "an alleged conspiracy to illegally export U.S. goods and technology without the required licenses," a statement from the Justice Department said.

In the Central District of California, a Chinese national was arrested for allegedly stealing trade secrets developed for use by the U.S. government to detect nuclear missile launches and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles.

"One year ago, I launched the Disruptive Technology Strike Force to strike back against adversaries trying to steal our nation's most powerful technology and use it against us," said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. "Since then, working with our partners at the Commerce Department, we have arrested more than a dozen corporate executives, engineers, distributors and other high-profile targets on charges that include sanctions and export control violations, and other offenses involving the unlawful transfer of sensitive information and technology."

Monaco said the three additional arrests highlight the importance of the focus on rooting out white collar crime in the tech industry.

"Today's charges against three additional defendants for seeking to illegally transfer U.S. software and semiconductor technology with military applications to benefit Iran and China highlight the critical importance of our fight against this national security threat," Monaco continued.

According to court documents, between January 2008 and August 2019, Abolfazi Bazzazi, 79, of Iran, and his son Mohammad Resa Bazzazi, 43, of Iran, and their co-conspirators sought to evade U.S. sanctions and export laws by working to procure goods and technology, including aeronautical ground support equipment, ultraviolet flame detectors and firefighting equipment, from U.S. companies for end users in Iran, including the Iranian government, without obtaining the required licenses or other authorization from the United States.

"As alleged, the Bazzazis devised an intricate scheme to evade U.S. export laws in obtaining U.S. equipment and technology to be exported to Iran and for the Government of Iran which has been designated by the United States government as a state sponsor of terrorism," said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York.

The documents claim the defendants sought to obtain components that could be used by Iran's aerospace industry. They also disguised the final destination of those U.S. goods by attempting to forward them through intermediaries in Europe and elsewhere.

In the third case, Chenguang Gong, 57, of San Jose, Calif., was arrested Tuesday in San Jose and charged with theft of trade secrets.

According to court documents, Gong transferred more than 3,600 files from the research and development company where he worked -- identified in court documents as the victim company -- to personal storage devices during his brief tenure with the company last year.

The files Gong allegedly transferred include blueprints for sophisticated infrared sensors designed for use in space-based systems to detect nuclear missile launches and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles, and blueprints for sensors designed to enable U.S. military aircraft to detect incoming heat-seeking missiles and take countermeasures, including by jamming the missiles' infrared tracking ability, the Justice Department said.

"We will do everything to protect our nation's security, including from foreign threats," said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California. "Mr. Gong, who had previously sought to provide the People's Republic of China with information to aid its military, stole sensitive and confidential information related to detecting nuclear missile launches and tracking ballistic and hypersonic missiles. We know that foreign actors, including the PRC, are actively seeking to steal our technology, but we will remain vigilant against this threat and remain vigilant against this threat by safeguarding the innovations of American businesses and researchers."

Gong is a native of China and became a United States citizen in 2011.

What we know about China's alleged state-backed hacking
Beijing (AFP) Feb 1, 2024 - The United States has said it successfully dismantled a China-based hacking network known as "Volt Typhoon", accusing it of infiltrating critical US infrastructure networks with the goal of disabling them in the event of conflict.

The group -- active since 2021 -- is allegedly primed to cripple sectors spanning communications, transportation and government.

The FBI has said that China has the biggest hacking program of any country.

Beijing has dismissed the claims as "groundless" -- and pointed to the United States' own history of cyber espionage.

Here's what we know about Beijing's hacking operations:

- 'Persistent threat' -

Washington has warned that China represents "the broadest, most active, and persistent cyber espionage threat" to its government and private sector.

Its hackers have become adept in recent years at breaking into rival nations' digital systems to gather trade secrets, according to researchers and Western intelligence officials.

In 2021, the United States, NATO and other allies said China had employed "contract hackers" to exploit a breach in Microsoft email systems, giving state security agents access to sensitive information.

Chinese spies have also hacked the US energy department, utility companies, telecommunications firms and universities, according to US government statements and media reports.

Beijing has been linked to 90 cyber espionage campaigns since the turn of the century -- 30 percent more than its close partner Russia, Benjamin Jensen, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Congress last year.

- Striking infrastructure -

Microsoft said last May that it had detected a campaign by China-backed Volt Typhoon against critical US infrastructure.

"Observed behaviour suggests that the threat actor intends to perform espionage and maintain access without being detected for as long as possible," Microsoft said, adding that the goal was to be able to disrupt communications infrastructure in the United States and Asia during crises.

In November, the company said Volt Typhoon was trying to improve its methods and had added universities to its target list.

US authorities said they removed the group's malware from compromised US-based routers.

Volt Typhoon appeared to be a highly sophisticated operation that could originate from a "specialised cyber intrusion contractor", Matthew Brazil, a Senior Fellow at The Jamestown Foundation and a former US diploma, told AFP.

Wednesday's announcement could mean the United States directly immobilised the hackers at the source, Brazil said, though that remains unclear.

"If so, the stakes seem to be rising... with China deciding to prepare for war by engaging in these aggressive actions and the US taking off the gloves and disabling that capability," he added.

Intelligence agencies bosses from the Five Eyes -- an information-sharing alliance of major English-speaking countries -- met in October for the first time ever and for one reason: China.

Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, told the gathering that the meeting would focus on "behaviour that goes well beyond traditional espionage".

His UK counterpart said his country was monitoring "massive amounts" of Chinese cyber activity every week.

- 'Biggest hacking empire' -

The United States has its own ways of spying on China, deploying surveillance, interception techniques, and networks of informants.

And Washington's own forays into cyber warfare, online surveillance and hacking are well-documented.

Beijing points to these examples when attention turns to its cyber-attacks, accusing Washington of being "world's biggest hacking empire".

It flatly denies allegations that it engages in state-organised hacking operations of overseas targets, dismissing Microsoft's report from last May as "extremely unprofessional".

Last July, public security officials in Wuhan said they had discovered a cyberattack on the central city's earthquake monitoring centre, which they said originated in the United States.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at the time that the attack represented a grave threat to the country's national security.

"The US government is engaged in malicious cyber operations against not just China... while blaming China for so-called 'hacking attacks'," Mao said.

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