4 ms·

Chinese Intelligence Officer Charged with Economic Espionage

78 points by ccnafr 8y ago

trhway 8y ago
I wish Russian spies were caught stealing tech secrets instead of killing and cyberwar-ing - i mean it would be kind of an indicator that my old country looks forward instead of into the past.
- techntoke 8y ago
  I'm surprised they haven't looked into WZor more. Seems like they have a good amount of backdoors into Microsoft as a company.
- supergirl 8y ago
  russia doesn't need to steal tech secrets. they have a lot of tech, especially in aviation. what they lack is in mass producing due to various things that can't be fixed overnight.
  - trhway 8y ago
    Thanks. I guess I could hardly desire for a best illustration of my point. I suppose you're a Russian millennium, right? The generation which will be defining Russia for the next several decades. Rephrasing a well known saying - Russia doesn't look into the future and the future doesn't look into Russia.
Canada 8y ago
"He identified experts who worked for these companies and recruited them to travel to China, often initially under the guise of asking them to deliver a university presentation. Xu and others paid the experts’ travel costs and provided stipends." And that seems to be the end of the allegation. I'm wondering, "And then what?" Were the experts bribed or blackmailed? It seems like quite a stretch to be charged with such a serious crime for convincing experts to give a lecture.
- ardy42 8y ago
  > And that seems to be the end of the allegation. I'm wondering, "And then what?" > Were the experts bribed or blackmailed? It seems like quite a stretch to be charged with such a serious crime for convincing experts to give a lecture. The actual indictment is more detailed: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1099876/download https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1099876/downl... He's charged with conspiracy, and page 5/6 of the indictment makes me suspect the government gained some access to the conspiracy's internal communications that revealed it as such. It's still a crime to conspire with others to commit a crime, even if the plans you form are never acted upon or carried out successfully. Edit: Further down in the indictment on pages 10-12, it looks like the accused Chinese intelligence officer convinced an employee of the company to send parts of a confidential presentation and directory listings from his work computer. The employee was later asked to download the files to an external hard disk and carry them to Europe so the intelligence officer could inspect them. It sounds like the employee was cooperating with the government and they arrested the suspect when he was expecting to get the hard disk with the files.
  - Canada 8y ago
    If I were writing the press release I’d definitely include at least one sentence describing what the conspirators dastardly plan was! From the PR it’s not even clear that an expert was knowingly involved in the plot.
    - candiodari 8y ago
      Given how legal filings work, unless they have good evidence that the expert wasn't deceived they should not say that. Besides, the filing only says that this Chinese person allegedly tried to convince the expert to commit a crime, hell it even seems likely that this expert is the one that called the FBI to intervene. Frankly, I think they should not even publicly imply this person did anything until they have a conviction, and after that only of the things that the person was actually convicted of.
      - 8y ago
fipple 8y ago
America tears itself apart over what did or didn’t happen at a high school party in May of 1982 while the once and future most powerful country in the world marches further in neutralizing all advantages we once had in knowledge economies.
lyricat 8y ago
It's interesting that the behaviors began since 2013 and nobody recognized.

78 points by ccnafr 8y ago

I wish Russian spies were caught stealing tech secrets instead of killing and cyberwar-ing - i mean it would be kind of an indicator that my old country looks forward instead of into the past.

techntoke 8y ago
I'm surprised they haven't looked into WZor more. Seems like they have a good amount of backdoors into Microsoft as a company.
supergirl 8y ago
russia doesn't need to steal tech secrets. they have a lot of tech, especially in aviation. what they lack is in mass producing due to various things that can't be fixed overnight.
- trhway 8y ago
  Thanks. I guess I could hardly desire for a best illustration of my point. I suppose you're a Russian millennium, right? The generation which will be defining Russia for the next several decades. Rephrasing a well known saying - Russia doesn't look into the future and the future doesn't look into Russia.

Canada 8y ago

"He identified experts who worked for these companies and recruited them to travel to China, often initially under the guise of asking them to deliver a university presentation. Xu and others paid the experts’ travel costs and provided stipends." And that seems to be the end of the allegation. I'm wondering, "And then what?" Were the experts bribed or blackmailed? It seems like quite a stretch to be charged with such a serious crime for convincing experts to give a lecture.

ardy42 8y ago
> And that seems to be the end of the allegation. I'm wondering, "And then what?" > Were the experts bribed or blackmailed? It seems like quite a stretch to be charged with such a serious crime for convincing experts to give a lecture. The actual indictment is more detailed: https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1099876/download https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1099876/downl... He's charged with conspiracy, and page 5/6 of the indictment makes me suspect the government gained some access to the conspiracy's internal communications that revealed it as such. It's still a crime to conspire with others to commit a crime, even if the plans you form are never acted upon or carried out successfully. Edit: Further down in the indictment on pages 10-12, it looks like the accused Chinese intelligence officer convinced an employee of the company to send parts of a confidential presentation and directory listings from his work computer. The employee was later asked to download the files to an external hard disk and carry them to Europe so the intelligence officer could inspect them. It sounds like the employee was cooperating with the government and they arrested the suspect when he was expecting to get the hard disk with the files.
- Canada 8y ago
  If I were writing the press release I’d definitely include at least one sentence describing what the conspirators dastardly plan was! From the PR it’s not even clear that an expert was knowingly involved in the plot.
  - candiodari 8y ago
    Given how legal filings work, unless they have good evidence that the expert wasn't deceived they should not say that. Besides, the filing only says that this Chinese person allegedly tried to convince the expert to commit a crime, hell it even seems likely that this expert is the one that called the FBI to intervene. Frankly, I think they should not even publicly imply this person did anything until they have a conviction, and after that only of the things that the person was actually convicted of.
    - 8y ago

fipple 8y ago

America tears itself apart over what did or didn’t happen at a high school party in May of 1982 while the once and future most powerful country in the world marches further in neutralizing all advantages we once had in knowledge economies.

lyricat 8y ago

It's interesting that the behaviors began since 2013 and nobody recognized.