Washington (AFP)
The US Department of Justice announced on Tuesday the indictment of two Chinese accused of carrying out a series of computer attacks, in particular against companies engaged in the search for a vaccine against Covid-19.
These "two Chinese hackers were working with the Chinese Ministry of State Security," John Demers, responsible for national security issues at the ministry, told a press conference.
Beyond the attacks against companies in ten Western countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom and Belgium, they also targeted "non-governmental organizations, religious and pro-democracy and rights activists of Man in the United States, in China and in Hong Kong, "he added.
According to US authorities, Li Xiaoyu, 34, and Dong Jiazhi, 33, met while studying engineering and stole trade secrets estimated at several hundred thousand dollars over a decade.
Recently, they attacked Californian companies that were working to find vaccines, treatments or tests for the new coronavirus, according to federal prosecutor in charge of the case, William Hyslop.
The two men, who have not been arrested and are a priori in China, operated for their own profit but "sometimes also worked for the Chinese government", according to Mr. Demers.
On May 13, the US federal police and the cybersecurity agency issued a rare warning to US researchers working on the new coronavirus to warn them of the risk of Chinese hacking, which Beijing strongly denied.
On July 7, FBI Director Christopher Wray reiterated the accusations. "At this very moment, China is working to compromise (...) American research on Covid-19", he assured.
The government of Donald Trump has adopted in recent months a very critical tone towards China, accused by the president of having concealed the extent of the spread of the new coronavirus when it appeared in the center of the country at the end of 2019 .
© 2020 AFP