The Justice Department released the below information:
The
unsealing of an indictment charging Zhu Hua (朱华), aka Afwar,
aka CVNX, aka Alayos, aka Godkiller; and Zhang Shilong (张士龙), aka Baobeilong, aka Zhang Jianguo, aka
Atreexp, both nationals of the People’s Republic of China (China), with
conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and
aggravated identity theft was announced today.
The announcement was
made by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S.
Berman for the Southern District of New York, Director Christopher A. Wray of
the FBI, Director Dermot F. O’Reilly of the Defense Criminal Investigative
Service (DCIS) of the U.S. Department of Defense, and Assistant Attorney
General for National Security John C. Demers.
Zhu and Zhang were
members of a hacking group operating in China known within the cyber security
community as Advanced Persistent Threat 10 (the APT10 Group). The
defendants worked for a company in China called Huaying Haitai Science and
Technology Development Company (Huaying Haitai) and acted in association with
the Chinese Ministry of State Security’s Tianjin State Security Bureau.
Through their
involvement with the APT10 Group, from at least in or about 2006 up to and
including in or about 2018, Zhu and Zhang conducted global campaigns of
computer intrusions targeting, among other data, intellectual property and
confidential business and technological information at managed service
providers (MSPs), which are companies that remotely manage the information
technology infrastructure of businesses and governments around the world, more
than 45 technology companies in at least a dozen U.S. states, and U.S.
government agencies. The APT10 Group targeted a diverse array of
commercial activity, industries and technologies, including aviation, satellite
and maritime technology, industrial factory automation, automotive supplies,
laboratory instruments, banking and finance, telecommunications and consumer
electronics, computer processor technology, information technology services,
packaging, consulting, medical equipment, healthcare, biotechnology,
pharmaceutical manufacturing, mining, and oil and gas exploration and
production. Among other things, Zhu and Zhang registered IT
infrastructure that the APT10 Group used for its intrusions and engaged in
illegal hacking operations.
“The indictment
alleges that the defendants were part of a group that hacked computers in at
least a dozen countries and gave China’s intelligence service access to
sensitive business information,” said Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein.
“This is outright cheating and theft, and it gives China an unfair advantage at
the expense of law-abiding businesses and countries that follow the
international rules in return for the privilege of participating in the global
economic system.”
“It is galling that
American companies and government agencies spent years of research and
countless dollars to develop their intellectual property, while the defendants
simply stole it and got it for free” said U.S. Attorney Berman. “As a
nation, we cannot, and will not, allow such brazen thievery to go unchecked.”
“Healthy competition
is good for the global economy, but criminal conduct is not. This is
conduct that hurts American businesses, American jobs, and American consumers,”
said FBI Director Wray. “No country should be able to flout the rule of
law – so we’re going to keep calling out this behavior for what it is: illegal,
unethical, and unfair. It's going to take all of us working together to
protect our economic security and our way of life, because the American people
deserve no less."
“The theft of
sensitive defense technology and cyber intrusions are major national security
concerns and top investigative priorities for the DCIS,” said DCIS Director
O’Reilly. “The indictments unsealed today are the direct result of a
joint investigative effort between DCIS and its law enforcement partners to
vigorously investigate individuals and groups who illegally access information
technology systems of the U.S. Department of Defense and the Defense Industrial
Base. DCIS remains vigilant in our efforts to safeguard the integrity of
the Department of Defense and its enterprise of information technology
systems.”
According to the
allegations in the Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
Overview
Zhu Hua (朱华),
aka Afwar, aka CVNX, aka Alayos, aka Godkiller, and Zhang Shilong (张士龙),
aka Baobeilong, aka Zhang Jianguo, aka Atreexp, the defendants, both nationals
of China, were members of a hacking group operating in China known within the
cyber security community as the APT10 Group, or alternatively as “Red Apollo,”
“CVNX,” “Stone Panda,” “MenuPass,” and “POTASSIUM.” The defendants worked
for Huaying Haitai in Tianjin, China, and acted in association with the Chinese
Ministry of State Security’s Tianjin State Security Bureau. From at least
in or about 2006 up to and including in or about 2018, members of the APT10
Group, including Zhu and Zhang, conducted extensive campaigns of intrusions
into computer systems around the world. The APT10 Group used some of the
same online facilities to initiate, facilitate and execute its campaigns during
the conspiracy.
Most recently,
beginning at least in or about 2014, members of the APT10 Group, including Zhu
and Zhang, engaged in an intrusion campaign to obtain unauthorized access to
the computers and computer networks of MSPs for businesses and governments
around the world (the MSP Theft Campaign). The APT10 Group targeted MSPs
in order to leverage the MSPs’ networks to gain unauthorized access to the computers
and computer networks of the MSPs’ clients and to steal, among other data,
intellectual property and confidential business data on a global scale.
For example, through the MSP Theft Campaign, the APT10 Group obtained
unauthorized access to the computers of an MSP that had offices in the Southern
District of New York and compromised the data of that MSP and certain of its
clients involved in banking and finance, telecommunications and consumer
electronics, medical equipment, packaging, manufacturing, consulting,
healthcare, biotechnology, automotive, oil and gas exploration, and mining.
Earlier, beginning in
or about 2006, members of the APT10 Group, including Zhu and Zhang, engaged in
an intrusion campaign to obtain unauthorized access to the computers and
computer networks of more than 45 technology companies and U.S. government
agencies, in order to steal information and data concerning a number of
technologies (the Technology Theft Campaign). Through the Technology
Theft Campaign, the APT10 Group stole hundreds of gigabytes of sensitive data
and targeted the computers of victim companies involved in aviation, space and
satellite technology, manufacturing technology, pharmaceutical technology, oil
and gas exploration and production technology, communications technology,
computer processor technology, and maritime technology.
In furtherance of the
APT10 Group’s intrusion campaigns, Zhu and Zhang, among other things, worked
for Huaying Haitai and registered malicious domains and infrastructure.
In addition, Zhu, a penetration tester, engaged in hacking operations on behalf
of the APT10 Group and recruited other individuals to the APT10 Group, and
Zhang developed and tested malware for the APT10 Group.
The
MSP Theft Campaign
In furtherance of the
MSP Theft Campaign, Zhu, Zhang, and their co-conspirators in the APT10 Group
engaged in the following criminal conduct:
- First, after the APT10 Group gained unauthorized access into the computers of an MSP, the APT10 Group installed multiple variants of malware on MSP computers around the world. To avoid antivirus detection, the malware was installed using malicious files that masqueraded as legitimate files associated with the victim computer’s operating system. Such malware enabled members of the APT10 Group to monitor victims’ computers remotely and steal user credentials.
- Second, after stealing administrative credentials from computers of an MSP, the APT10 Group used those stolen credentials to connect to other systems within an MSP and its clients’ networks. This enabled the APT10 Group to move laterally through an MSP’s network and its clients’ networks and to compromise victim computers that were not yet infected with malware.
- Third, after identifying data of interest on a compromised computer and packaging it for exfiltration using encrypted archives, the APT10 Group used stolen credentials to move the data of an MSP client to one or more other compromised computers of the MSP or its other clients’ networks before exfiltrating the data to other computers controlled by the APT10 Group.
Over the course of the
MSP Theft Campaign, Zhu, Zhang, and their co-conspirators in the APT10 Group
successfully obtained unauthorized access to computers providing services to or
belonging to victim companies located in at least 12 countries, including
Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland,
the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The
victim companies included at least the following: a global financial
institution, three telecommunications and/or consumer electronics companies;
three companies involved in commercial or industrial manufacturing; two
consulting companies; a healthcare company; a biotechnology company; a mining
company; an automotive supplier company; and a drilling company.
The
Technology Theft Campaign
Over the course of the
Technology Theft Campaign, which began in or about 2006, Zhu, Zhang, and their
coconspirators in the APT10 Group successfully obtained unauthorized access to
the computers of more than 45 technology companies and U.S. Government agencies
based in at least 12 states, including Arizona, California, Connecticut,
Florida, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The APT10 Group stole hundreds of gigabytes of sensitive data and information
from the victims’ computer systems, including from at least the following
victims: seven companies involved in aviation, space and/or satellite
technology; three companies involved in communications technology; three
companies involved in manufacturing advanced electronic systems and/or
laboratory analytical instruments; a company involved in maritime technology; a
company involved in oil and gas drilling, production, and processing; and the
NASA Goddard Space Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In addition to
those victims who had information stolen, Zhu, Zhang, and their co-conspirators
successfully obtained unauthorized access to computers belonging to more than 25
other technology-related companies involved in, among other things, industrial
factory automation, radar technology, oil exploration, information technology
services, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and computer processor technology, as
well as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory.
Finally, the APT10
Group compromised more than 40 computers in order to steal sensitive data
belonging to the Navy, including the names, Social Security numbers, dates of
birth, salary information, personal phone numbers, and email addresses of more
than 100,000 Navy personnel.
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Zhu and Zhang are each
charged with one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, which
carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of conspiracy to
commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and
one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory sentence of
two years in prison.
The maximum potential
sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for
informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be
determined by the assigned judge. The charges contained in the Indictment
are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and
until proven guilty.
The case was
investigated by the FBI, including the New Orleans, New Haven, Houston, New
York, Sacramento, and San Antonio Field Offices; DCIS; and the U.S. Naval
Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Mr. Rosenstein, Mr. Berman and Mr.
Demers praised the outstanding investigative work of, and collaboration among,
the FBI, DCIS, and NCIS. They also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for
the District of Connecticut, and the Department of Defense’s Computer Forensic
Laboratory for their assistance in the investigation.
Assistant U.S.
Attorney Sagar K. Ravi of the Southern District of New York’s Complex Frauds
and Cybercrime Unit is in charge of the prosecution, with assistance provided
by Trial Attorney Matthew Chang of the National Security Division’s
Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
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