A BIG ONE

Chinese National Indicted in U.S. Hacks That Stole Data From Over 78 Million

Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski called the hacks “one of the worst data breaches in history.”

A 32-year-old Chinese man and an unnamed co-defendant were indicted Thursday for allegedly being part of an “extremely sophisticated hacking group in China” that breached large U.S. businesses, including a 2015 data theft from health insurer Anthem. According to a Justice Department press release, Fujie Wang and a “John Doe” are accused of breaching Anthem and three other unnamed businesses. They were both charged with one count of conspiracy to commit fraud, one count to commit wire fraud, and two counts of “intentional damage to a protected computer.” The DOJ said the Anthem breach stole sensitive data from 78.8 million people through Anthem's computer network, including “Social Security numbers... employment information and income data.” Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski wrote in the release that the hacks were “one of the worst data breaches in history.” The Wall Street Journal reported that the indictment did not directly state if the Chinese actors were connected with the Chinese government.