Asia Times: Chinese Espionage and Intelligence Activities at All Time High, Experts Say

The US announced criminal charges in 2014 against five Chinese army hackers for stealing trade secrets from American companies

 

Chinese intelligence operations worldwide to steal important information both through human agents and cyber attacks are a growing threat, according to experts who testified at a US congressional commission last week.

Beijing’s spies, operating through the civilian Ministry of State Security and People’s Liberation Army Intelligence Bureau (IB), have scored impressive gains against the United States in particular, where economic espionage — the theft of trade secrets and high technology — remains at unprecedented levels.

Technology espionage by China was highlighted by the conviction in California last week of Wenxia Man of San Diego who was convicted of illegally conspiring to export fighter jet engines and an unmanned aerial vehicle to China.

Massive cyber attack hits US federal workers, probe focuses on China

To put this in perspective, roughly 95% of federal employees have been hit.

 

Washington: Hackers broke into US government computers, possibly compromising the personal data of 4 million current and former federal employees, with investigators probing whether the culprits were based in China, US officials said.

In the latest in a string of intrusions into US agencies’ high-tech systems, the US Office of Personnel Management suffered what appeared to be one of the largest breaches of information ever on government workers. The office handles employee records and security clearances.