Vancouver man pleads guilty to helping Chinese hackers steal U.S. military secrets
A Canadian permanent resident and Chinese citizen who was living in Vancouver has pleaded guilty in the U.S. for his role in a scheme to steal secrets relating to military tech, including the F-35 fighter.
Fifty-year-old Su Bin, a businessman with with expertise in the aerospace field, was arrested in B.C. in 2014 for for his role in a conspiracy to steal secrets on cutting edge military jets and send them to China.
According to a statement released by the U.S. Justice Department today, he finally gave up a fight against extradition to the U.S last month, and has now pleaded guilty to his role in the plot.
Documents from his plea deal reveal Su admitted helping a pair of Chinese hackers single out specific people, technologies, and companies including Boeing, for attacks between 2008 to 2014.
Once their databases were compromised, he helped them navigate the systems and translated the data into Chinese.
The other two hackers, both Chinese citizens, are not named and are believed to be in China.
Su faces up to five years in prison and massive fines for his part in the plot and will be sentenced in July.