The US Justice Department has charged 12 Chinese nationals, including hackers and law enforcement officers, for global cybercrime. The charges were announced Wednesday. Wu Haibo, founder of the private hacking firm I-Soon, is accused of overseeing hacking targeting dissidents and US entities. Other targets included the Defense Intelligence Agency and a research university. The Chinese government paid between $10,000 and $75,000 for each hacked email inbox. Liu Pengyu of the Chinese Embassy called the allegations a "smear," saying, "We hope that relevant parties will adopt a professional and responsible attitude and base their characterization of cyber incidents on sufficient evidence rather than groundless speculation and accusations."
Separate charges were filed against Yin Kecheng and Zhou Shuai for targeting US technology firms and other entities. The US Treasury Department was among the targets. The State Department has offered a $2 million reward for their arrest. This case highlights China's "hacking-for-hire" activities backed by the government. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)