Chinese businessman admits involvement in US defense hack

Chinese businessman Su Bin, who was indicted in 2014 for stealing military data from US defense suppliers, has admitted his guilt. He worked with two other Chinese to get the data.

According to the indictment, the 50-year-old businessman made plans between 2008 and 2014 to steal data from companies such as Boeing, Yahoo News reports. In doing so, in collaboration with others, he targeted data on military aircraft, such as the C-17, F-22 and F-35. Su Bin has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to a California judge with a plea agreement, imposing a lesser sentence in exchange for a confession. As a result, he now faces a sentence of five years in prison instead of thirty years.

The man did business from China in the field of aviation. His part in stealing data was relaying potential targets to Chinese hackers via email. After a successful hack, he translated the obtained data into Chinese and determined its value. Su Bin was arrested in 2014 in Canada, where he owns an airline company.

The US and China signed an agreement in September 2015 not to hack each other, which also ruled out digital economic espionage. When Su Bin was arrested, a spokesman for the Chinese government said that “China has never attempted hacks via the internet and is strongly against it.” The man’s lawyer tells Yahoo that he “just wants to get on with his life.” The sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 13.