Charges Against Alleged Chinese Military Hacker Unsealed

Charges against Chinese national Jia Wei were unsealed on Sept. 17, alleging unlawful access to U.S. communications company networks to steal proprietary information on behalf of Chinese entities. Wei, a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) People’s Liberation Army (PLA), was assigned to Unit 61786, which is tasked with obtaining communications and information via hacking, according to the Department of Justice. In March 2017, Wei and co-conspirators allegedly hacked an American company’s network about two days after the company sued a China-based competitor for theft of trade secrets. According to the indictment, the hackers obtained documents related to the company’s “civilian and military communication devices,”  as well as “product development information, testing plans, and internal evaluations.” They also copied documents that discussed the China-based competitor....