Four members of the Chinese military have just been charged by a federal grand jury in the United States for their involvement in the hacking of credit reporting agency, Equifax. The members of the Chinese People's Liberation Army has been found guilty of stealing personal data and trade secrets in what has been touted as the largest hacks ever perpetrated.
According to Attorney General William Barr, the hack that happened back in 2017 was on a scale not ever seen before. The official added in a statement made on Monday that the perpetrators had obtained personal data on more than 150 million US citizens. It was described by the official as a "deliberate and sweeping intrusion" into the private lives of American citizens.
At a news conference in Washington, Barr admitted that it was unprecedented for the United States to formally charge military members from another country. However, the scale of the hack was sufficient enough to warrant the action given how the suspects had managed to invade the privacy of millions of American citizens.
The hack apparently also caused millions of dollars in damage to Equifax, including the substantial amounts it had to spend to protect itself and its customers from identity theft. The attorney general elaborated that China could potentially use the data gathered by the suspect in creating artificial intelligent-driven tools and "intelligence gathering" packages to further its agenda.
Equifax first reported the hack to authorities back in September 2017, a full three months after it discovered the cyber attack. Hackers reportedly managed to gather sensitive information of its clients, including full names, driver's license numbers, addresses, and social security numbers.
The hackers were able to penetrate the company's databases using a security flaw within a tool designed to build web applications. Equifax admitted that it was aware of the flaw two months prior to the attack. The entire scandal resulted in the resignation of Equifax's former CEO, Richard Smith, and the launch of a federal investigation into the matter. Dozens of lawsuits were also filed by Equifax customers, both against the company and multiple state attorneys general.
The director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, Bill Evanina, told reporters on Monday that the hack is evidence of China's continued move to target the US' private sector to undermine the country's economic competitiveness. The activity is being seen by the country as a clear counterintelligence threat to both its economy and its citizens.
