US charges Chinese intelligence officers for jet engine data hack

The indictment said at the time of the intrusions, a Chinese-state owned aerospace company was working to develop a comparable engine for use in aircraft manufactured in China and in other countries.

The 10 people charged conspired to steal sensitive data “that could be used by Chinese entities to build the same or similar engine without incurring substantial research and development expenses,” the indictment released by the U.S. Department of Justice said.

It said more than a dozen companies were targeted, but only Capstone Turbine Corp was identified by name.

Others were listed as a French aerospace manufacturer with an office in Suzhou, China, a United Kingdom aerospace company and a multinational conglomerate that produces commercial and consumer products and aerospace systems.

The indictment charges Zha Rong and Chai Meng along with other co-conspirators who worked for the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security, a unit of the foreign intelligence arm of the Ministry of State Security.

It says their efforts to steal sensitive commercial aviation and other data took place from January 2010 through May 2015.