The Chinese government has quietly arrested a handful of hackers at the urging of the USA government – an unprecedented step to defuse tensions with Washington at a time when the Obama administration has threatened economic sanctions. In the weeks leading up to the arrests, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement personnel compiled a list [Washington Post report] of hackers that the United States wanted to be detained.
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“So we gave them a list, and we said, ‘Look, here’s these guys”. “Round them up”, one person familiar with the matter told the paper. Now, we may be seeing the first results of that accord.
The identities of the arrested individuals are unknown, but the Post claims the hackers were accused of state-sponsored economic espionage; they are believed to have stolen intellectual property by hacking the records of foreign companies on behalf of the Chinese government.
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Commenting on the news via his Twitter feed, FireEye/Mandiant strategist Richard Bejtlich said: “Arresting CN hackers explicitly tied to theft for biz benefit puts CN gov in awkward position. Fits w/anti-corruption campaign, but bad for PLA morale”. The hackers had been identified by US officials as having stolen commercial secrets from USA firms to be sold or passed along to Chinese state-run companies. The fact that the government is making these demands, and that China appears to be complying with them, even if in a minimal way, suggests that the USA has a bit more leverage than it previously did-at least on the surface.
