China cited in cybersecurity case: US official

WASHINGTON — The United States is preparing to announce first-of-its-kind criminal charges today (May 19) against Chinese military officials in an international cyber-espionage case, a government official said.

Attorney-general Eric Holder and other federal law enforcement officials were expected to reveal the new indictments later today, the official told The Associated Press.

The indictments will accuse individuals of participating in cyber-espionage on behalf of a foreign government, said the official, who revealed this information only on grounds of anonymity because this person was not authorised to publicly discuss the case in advance of the official announcement.

The official described the prosecution as unprecedented, and said Chinese government officials are being charged in the United States with hacking into private-sector companies to gain trade secrets, adding that Mr Holder and other top-level law enforcement officials were poised to announce charges that include economic espionage and trade-secret theft.

The Chinese to be named, the official said, are current members of Beijing’s military establishment. The US official did not identify the companies or industries with which they were engaged.

Mr John Carlin, recently installed as head of the Justice’s National Security Division, earlier this year cited prosecution of state-sponsored cyber-threats as a key goal for the Obama administration.

US officials have accused China’s army and China-based hackers of launching attacks on American industrial and military targets, often to steal secrets or intellectual property. China has said that it faces a major threat from hackers, and the country’s military is believed to be among the biggest targets of the NSA and US Cyber Command.

Last September, President Barack Obama discussed cybersecurity issues on the sidelines of a summit in St Petersburg, Russia, with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

White House spokesman Ben Rhodes said at the time that Mr Obama had addressed concerns about cyber threats emanating from China. He said Mr Obama told Mr Xi the US sees it not through the prism of security but out of concern over theft of trade secrets.

In late March, Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel revealed that the Pentagon planned to more than triple its cybersecurity staff in the next few years to defend against Internet attacks that threaten national security.

Mr Hagel’s comments at the National Security Agency headquarters in suburban Washington came as he prepared to visit China.

“Our nation’s reliance on cyberspace outpaces our cybersecurity,” Mr Hagel said at the time. “Our nation confronts the proliferation of destructive malware and a new reality of steady, ongoing and aggressive efforts to probe, access or disrupt public and private networks, and the industrial control systems that manage our water, and our energy and our food supplies.” AP