A Chinese national who conspired with Chinese military officers to hack into U.S. defense contractor computer networks and stole military technical data was sentenced on Wednesday to 46 months in federal prison, according to the Justice Department.
The conspirator, Su Bin (also known as Stephen Su and Stephen Subin), a China-based businessman in the aviation and aerospace fields, previously pleaded guilty on March 23 to one count of conspiring to gain unauthorized access to a protected computer and to violate the Arms Control Export Act by exporting defense articles on the U.S. Munitions List contained in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Su admitted he conspired with two military officers in China from 2008 – 2014 to gain unauthorized access to protected computer networks in the U.S. to obtain sensitive military information.
The Justice Department highlighted the conspiracy’s goal was to take certain information and illegally export it to China. This included targeting Boeing’s [BA] networks, data related to the C-17 transport aircraft, and certain fighter jets produced for the U.S. military.
A criminal complaint was first filed in 2014 with subsequent indictments all filed in Los Angeles, Calif., charging Su with his role in the criminal conspiracy.
The Justice Department said Su told his co-conspirators who to target, which files to steal, and why the stolen information was significant. Su admitted that as part of his participation he sent emails to the other conspirators with guidance regarding which persons, companies, and technologies to target during their hacking.
One co-conspirator gained access to information located on computers of U.S. companies and emailed Su directory file listings and folders showing the data the conspirator had accessed. Su then directed the partner which files and folder they should steal. After the network stole the data and used techniques to avoid detection when hacking the victim computers, Su then translated the contents of certain stolen data from English into Chinese.
Su also admitted he and his co-conspirators each wrote, revised, and emailed reports on the information and technology they acquired, including its value to the final beneficiaries of the hacking, to the Second Department, General Staff Headquarters of the China People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Justice Department said.
Su said he participated in these crimes for financial gain and specifically sought to profit from selling the data he and his co-conspirators acquired.
The FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office’s Cyber Division investigated the case with assistance from the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin and U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California announced the case’s result Wednesday.
“Su Bin’s sentence is a just punishment for his admitted role in a conspiracy with hackers from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force to illegally access and steal sensitive U.S. military information. Su assisted the Chinese military hackers in their efforts to illegally access and steal designs for cutting-edge military aircraft that are indispensable to our national defense,” Carlin said in a statement.
“This prison sentence reinforces our commitment to ensure that hackers, regardless of state affiliation, are held accountable for their criminal conduct,” Carlin added.
“Over the course of years, this defendant sought to undermine the national security of the United States by seeking out information that would benefit a foreign government and providing that country with information it had never before seen,” Decker said.
“The outstanding efforts of the prosecutors and investigators who developed this case demonstrate our commitment to protecting our nation’s security from all threats. As this case shows, criminals can be held accountable no matter where they are located in the world,” she added.
U.S. Attorney General’s Office of the Central District of California’s Terrorism and Export Crimes Section and the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, with help from the department’s Office of International Affairs, prosecuted the case. Su Bin was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder of the Central District of California.