Chinese national indicted for trying to hack NASA & Air Force to steal missile tech, says US Department of Justice

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has indicted a Chinese national for trying to hack NASA, US Air Force, and other US aerospace organisations.

The DoJ on Monday said that Chinese national Song Wu has been indicted for yearslong ‘spear-phishing’ campaign to hack the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and branches of the US military to steal dual-use software. Song worked for the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), a Chinese state-owned aerospace giant, which is one of the largest defence contractors in the world.

The ‘spear-phishing’ refers to cyberattack in which someone targets a specific person, group, or an organisation to trick them into sharing sensitive data or granting entry into their systems by pretending to be someone they trust.

Song faces 14 counts of wire fraud and 14 counts of aggravated identity theft. For each count of wire fraud, Song faces a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years, meaning she could potentially face over 100 years in jail maximum or at least over a decade at least if convicted.

For several years, China has been accused of stealing technology of Western companies and governments for the growth its enterprises. Amid rising aggression in every sphere, China has ramped up its espionage, both industrial and governmental, in recent years and it has forced Western governments to devote more resources to counter-intelligence purposes.

‘Grave threat to national security’

A US official said that Song’s alleged crimes posed a “grave threat” to the US national security.

Song created email accounts to impersonate US-based researchers and engineers and approached US government officials, university researchers, and private aerospace executives to trick them into sharing or making available source code or software they had access to, according to the DoJ.

The government agencies targeted included NASA, Air Force, Army, Navy, and FAA.

The software that Song were seeking was specialised and proprietary used for aerospace engineering and computational fluid dynamics, which could be used for both industrial and military applications, such as development of advanced tactical missiles and assessment of weapons, as per the DoJ.

US Attorney Ryan K Buchanan said that even though Song posed a “grave threat to our national security”, the indictment demonstrated the ability to thwart such plots by bad actors.

The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, said, “Once again, the FBI and our partners have demonstrated that cyber criminals around the world who are seeking to steal our companies’ most sensitive and valuable information can and will be exposed and held accountable. As this indictment shows, the FBI is committed to pursuing the arrest and prosecution of anyone who engages in illegal and deceptive practices to steal protected information.”