A look at co-conspirators accused in U.S. military hacking case

The co-conspirators

Prosecution “books of record,” recently released by a Vancouver court to The Globe and Mail, make explicit Chinese military ties that were not publicly alleged when a rare cyberespionage prosecution was launched in 2014. Two Chinese government soldiers stand accused of being part of a hacking conspiracy allegedly carried out by a Chinese resident of Canada, as part of a scheme to steal secrets relating to components of F-35s and other American war jets.

3. The e-mail records also demonstrate that Co-con1 and Co-con2 were Chinese military officers. For example:
   1. On October 20, 2012, Co-con1 sent an email attaching an image that was a photo of his Chinese military identification showing his photograph, name, rank, military unit, and year and month of birth.
   2. On March 19, 2012, Co-con2 received an e-mail with a copy of his own Hong Kong identification showing his name, date of birth, and photograph. On June 28, 2012, Co-con1 sent an e-mail to himself with the subject line of "Boss" attaching a photograph. That photograph show both Co-con2 (the person was the same person that appeared in the Hong Kong identification card) and another person both wearing Chinese military uniforms.
   3. The "C-17 Report" referred to in the ROC at paragraph 14, which Co-con1 sent Co-con2 on August 13, 2012, included, among the other statements noted in paragraph 14(a), the statement that "we" made "important contributions tp our national defense scientific research development."³