Other alleged victims include US-based Chinese dissidents, the foreign ministries of several Asian countries, religious organizations and additional US federal and state government agencies, the department said.
Eight employees of a Chinese company called Anxun Information Technology Co Ltd, also known as i-Soon, and two Ministry of Public Security officers were indicted in New York for involvement in the alleged hacking of email accounts, cell phones, servers, and websites between 2016 and 2023.
“For years, these 10 defendants – two of whom we allege are (People’s Republic of China – PRC) officials – used sophisticated hacking techniques to target religious organizations, journalists, and government agencies, all to gather sensitive information for the use of the PRC,” acting US attorney Matthew Podolsky said in a statement.
The Justice Department said the private Chinese hackers were paid in some cases by the Chinese ministries of public security and state security to exploit specific victims.
“In many other cases, the hackers targeted victims speculatively,” it said, identifying vulnerable computers and then selling hacked information to the Chinese government.
The Justice Department said i-Soon charged the ministries of public and state security between US$10,000 and US$75,000 for each email inbox it successfully hacked.
All 10 defendants remain at large and the State Department offered a reward of up to US$10 million for information leading to their arrest.
The hacking targets allegedly included a missionary organization, a group focused on promoting human rights and religious freedom in China, a Hong Kong newspaper and the foreign ministries of Taiwan, India, South Korea and Indonesia.
