On Tuesday, the US announced a $10 million reward for information that would result in the capture of a Chinese man and other accomplices who were wanted for breaking computer firewalls.
China’s Sichuan Province is thought to be home to Guan Tianfeng, 30, the State Department said.
On Tuesday, an indictment was unsealed accusing Guan of conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit computer fraud.
The Treasury Department announced that Guan’s employer, Sichuan Silence Information Technology Co. Ltd., was subject to sanctions.
As to the accusation, Guan and his accomplices at Sichuan Silence allegedly exploited a weakness in firewalls that were marketed by Sophos Ltd., a cybersecurity business based in the United Kingdom.
In a statement, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco stated, “The defendant and his co-conspirators took advantage of a flaw in tens of thousands of network security devices, infecting them with malware intended to steal information from victims worldwide.”
According to the indictment, 81,000 firewall devices were targeted in a coordinated global operation in April 2020 to obtain information, such as usernames and passwords, and try to infect the computers with ransomware.
According to the Treasury, 36 of the more than 23,000 firewalls in the US were guarding the systems of “critical infrastructure companies.”
“Firewalls owned by businesses across the United States were impacted by the zero-day vulnerability that Guan Tianfeng and his accomplices discovered and exploited,” FBI agent Herbert Stapleton stated.
“The damage could have been much worse if Sophos had not quickly discovered the vulnerability and implemented a thorough response.”
Sichuan Silence offered its services and the data it acquired through hacking to Chinese companies and government agencies, such as the Ministry of Public Security, the indictment claims.
Sichuan Silence “did not accept interviews,” according to a guy who took a call on a number associated with the company. He declined to comment on the punishment.
In addition, the guy, who remained anonymous when questioned by AFP, claimed Guan was “uncontactable.”
