Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 24, 2025

US charges four members of Chinese military with ‘organised and brazen’ hacking of Equifax credit agency

US Justice Department blames Beijing for one of the largest hacks in history, which affected roughly 145 million people in 2017. ‘We remind the Chinese government that we have the capability to remove the internet’s cloak of anonymity,’ Attorney General William Barr says

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged four members of the Chinese military with hacking into one of America’s largest credit reporting agencies and stealing the personal data of around half of all US citizens.

The alleged hack of Atlanta-headquartered Equifax also allowed the hackers, determined by the DOJ to be members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), to obtain trade secrets related to the company’s database designs.

“This was an organised and remarkably brazen criminal heist of sensitive information of nearly half of all Americans,” US General Attorney William Barr, unveiling the nine-count indictment, said on Monday.

The four individuals alleged to have committed the 2017 cyberintrusion – Wu Zhiyong, Wang Qian, Xu Ke and Liu Lei – were part of the PLA’s 54th Research Institute, the DOJ said. Their names are now listed on the FBI’s “most wanted” online database.

As well as obtaining the names, birth dates and social security numbers of around 145 million American citizens, the hackers also collected the driver license details of at least 10 million individuals and the credit card information of 200,000 people, according to the indictment.

FBI deputy director David Bowdich described the hack as the “largest theft of sensitive PII [personal identifiable information] by state-sponsored hackers ever recorded”.

The indictment, which was handed down by a grand jury in Atlanta, marked the culmination of more than two years of investigation conducted by officials from the FBI and DOJ, and in close coordination with Equifax.

The nine criminal charges brought by the 21-page indictment cover computer fraud, economic espionage and wire fraud, and are related to actions taken between May and July of 2017.

Detailing the methods employed in the breach, the indictment alleged that the hackers exploited vulnerabilities in software used by Equifax through which users could dispute possible inaccuracies in their records.



To mask their identities, the hackers were alleged to have used some 34 IP addresses in 20 counties, employed encrypted communication channels and wiped log files on a daily basis, said DOJ officials.

As one of the US’ top credit reporting agencies, Equifax collates and stores consumer information of tens of millions of Americans, data that it then sells to companies seeking to evaluate an individual’s credit rating or verify their identity.

With the DOJ action, the US was reminding China that it had the capability “to remove the Internet’s cloak of anonymity and find the hackers that [the] nation repeatedly deploys against us”, Barr said.

Though there was not yet any evidence of misuse of the obtained data, the FBI’s Bowdich said it could be readily monetised, adding that the relationship between a healthy economy and national security was something “China recognises very well”.

Personal information could also be used to direct targeted packages to US government officials, he said.

Monday’s announcement marked the latest in a rapidly growing list of criminal cases the DOJ has brought against Chinese entities over economic espionage, which officials say costs the US hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

Currently, the FBI is pursuing around 1,000 investigations related to China’s alleged theft of US trade secrets in all 56 of its field offices, bureau director Christopher Wray said at a conference in Washington last week.

Those actions have dovetailed with the US administration’s efforts to secure commitments from Beijing to alter its trade and economic practices, but have also accompanied a rise in complaints of racial profiling by Chinese-Americans, particularly those working in advanced or sensitive technologies.

As has become something of a scripted asterisk for law enforcement and justice officials speaking out against Beijing’s alleged acts of cyberintrusion and economic espionage, Bowdich emphasised during Monday’s press conference that the DOJ’s action was an indictment of China's government, not its people.

“Confronting this threat effectively does not mean we should not do business with China, host Chinese students, welcome Chinese visitors or coexist with China as a country on the world stage,” he said.

“What it does mean,” Bowdich continued, “is that when China violates our criminal laws and international norms, we will not tolerate it and we will hold them accountable for it.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Airlines Evaluate Flight Cancellations Amid Escalating US-Iran Tensions
Starmer Invites Innovators to Join Government Talent Scheme
UK Economy’s Strong Opening Quarter Shows Signs of Cooling
Harrods Seeks Court Order to Secure Al Fayed Estate for Victims
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
BBC Demands Perplexity AI Immediately Stop Using Its Content
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
Political Turmoil Resurfaces in Belgium Amid Economic Concerns
Fed policymakers divided on timing of interest rate cuts
Trump signals imminent agreement with Harvard University
Inheritance tax referendum alarms Swiss billionaire community
Japan cancels bilateral security meeting amid US defence demands
AI skeptic Emily Bender warns that ‘the emperor has no clothes’
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
Analysts Warn Iran May Resort to Unconventional Warfare
Iranian Regime Faces Existential Threat Amid Conflict
×