Several instances demonstrate China's use of cyber espionage to attack U.S. government agencies and contractors to bolster its national security and economic priorities.[1] As part of China's "strategic plan" to increase its intelligence collection efforts, state-sponsored hackers have reportedly targeted U.S. networks containing large amounts of data on American intelligence personnel and government employees.[2] For example, in 2014, U.S. intelligence officials revealed that hackers associated with the Chinese government infiltrated Office of Personnel Management databases, which held personnel records and security-clearance files for former and current federal employees, their families, and friends; defense contractors' records were also obtained.[3] Over 22 million individuals were affected by the breach.[4] Former FBI Director Comey described the data as a "treasure trove of information about everybody who has worked for, tried to work for, or [currently] works for the United States government," making the breach a major national security concern.[5] Later that year, the Intelligence Community suspected that Chinese state-sponsored hackers were behind a breach of the U.S. Postal Service's computer networks—exposing data containing sensitive information on more than 800,000 employees.[6] Cyber policy experts concluded that the attack was part of the Chinese government's effort to build its inventory of information on U.S. persons for counter-intelligence and recruitment purposes.[7]
Chinese hackers have also targeted U.S. government contractors and the private sector. For example, in 2014, Chinese state-sponsored hackers allegedly breached the computer network of U.S. Investigation Services ("USIS"), which was then one of the government's largest contractors for providing federal background and security clearance investigations.[8] The breach resulted in the loss of more than 25,000 records belonging to DHS employees.[9] In 2018, Marriott's Starwood chain hotel reservation system was allegedly infiltrated by hackers working on
- ↑ Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community Statement for the Record to the S. Select Comm. on Intelligence 6 (Feb. 13, 2018) (statement of Daniel R. Coats, Dir. of Nat'l Intelligence).
- ↑ Ellen Nakashima, Hacks of OPM Databases Compromised 22.1 Million People, Federal Authorities Say, Wash. Post (July 9, 2015).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ The OPM Data Breach: How the Government Jeopardized Our National Security for More than a Generation, H.R. Comm. on Oversight & Gov't Reform, Majority Staff Rep., 114 Cong. 1, v n.1. (Sept. 7, 2016).
- ↑ Ellen Nakashima, Hacks of OPM Databases Compromised 22.1 Million People, Federal Authorities Say, Wash. Post (July 9, 2015).
- ↑ Ellen Nakashima, China Suspected of Breaching U.S. Postal Service Computer Networks, Wash. Post (Nov. 10, 2014).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Ellen Nakashima, DHS Contractor Suffers Major Computer Breach, Officials Say, Wash. Post (Aug. 6, 2014); Cory Bennett, Report: China Hacked Security Contractor, The Hill (Nov. 3, 2014).
- ↑ Stephanie Stamm & Kaveh Waddell, A Timeline of Government Data Breaches, The Atlantic (July 6, 2015).
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