Chinese Hacker Who Tried to Steal US Military Data 'Deserves Respect' – State Media
Global Times, an arm of the Communist party’s People’s Daily newspaper, published an editorial late Thursday headlined “Su Bin deserves respect whether guilty or innocent” that praised Su Bin, a Chinese national who pled guilty on Wednesday in a Californian federal court to conspiring to hack into the computer networks of US defence contractors.
“We have no reliable source to identify whether Su has stolen these secrets and transferred them to the Chinese government. If he has, we are willing to show our gratitude and respect for his service to our country,” stated the editorial.
“On the secret battlefield without gunpowder, China needs special agents to gather secrets from the US. As for Su, be he recruited by the Chinese government or driven by economic benefits, we should give him credit for what he is doing for the country.”
Su, a multimillionaire living in Vancouver, was first accused of cyberhacking in 2014, but successfully fought extradition to the US until March 2016. He then consented to go to the US in exchange for a plea deal limiting his sentence to a maximum of five years in prison.
As part of the deal, Su confessed to being part of a cyber-spying conspiracy that started in 2008 and continued until 2014. Su admitted acting as a scout for two hackers based in China. The US Justice Department said these two hackers worked for the Chinese military, according to court filings reported by the Globe and Mail of Canada and other newspapers. (end of excerpt)
Click here for the full story, on The Guardian website.
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