Monday’s indictment is the first the US has filed against a ‘state actor’ for economic cyber-theft, says Attorney General Eric Holder, citing need for ‘aggressive response.’ No one is expecting a trial, though, so why do it?
After years of complaining that China is engaged in stealing trade secrets from American companies, the United States on Monday for the first time filed cyber-espionage charges against individuals belonging to a unit of the Chinese military, accusing them of hacking trade secrets since 2006 from five domestic manufacturers and the steelworkers union.
The indictment, filed by the US Attorney’s Office for the western district of Pennsylvania, where several of the US companies are based, names five Chinese nationals who worked for China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Unit 61398, a cyber-intelligence-gathering section. It alleges that state-owned companies hired the unit to provide “information technology services” that included economic cyber-espionage.
The PLA workers named in the indictment are not in US custody, and probably never will be. By taking this legal action, the US is signaling to China that its tolerance of economic cyber-spying, which results in loss of American firms’ competitive position on the world market, is at a breaking point.
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