US Citizen Jailed For Cyber Espionage

Uploaded on 2024-12-03 in INTELLIGENCE-Hot Spots-China, INTELLIGENCE--USA, GOVERNMENT-Law Enforcement, FREE TO VIEW

A US citizen, who immigrated from the People's Republic of China (PRC), has been sentenced and imprisoned for spying and sharing sensitive information about his employer with China's intelligence agency.

Ping Li, from Florida, was a spy for the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) from August 2012, working to obtain information that's of interest to the Chinese government. Li was employed by Verizon and later at information technology service company Infosys.

Li used information about Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy advocates, members of the Falun Gong religious movement, and US-based non-governmental organisations, and shared them with two MSS officers, one of whom he first made contact while studying in China. He was charged with being an agent of the PRC without notification to the US Attorney General in late July 2024.

After pleading guilty to the charges, Li has received a four year jail sentence plus three years of supervised release and a heavy fine.

"The MSS often uses 'cooperative contacts' located in countries outside of the PRC in furtherance of their intelligence goals, which include obtaining information concerning foreign corporate or industrial matters, foreign politicians or intelligence officers, and information concerning PRC political dissidents residing in those countries," the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said. "These cooperative contacts assist the MSS in a variety of ways, including by conducting research on topics of interest to the PRC that can be used to further the MSS's mission."

He also shared training applications used by Verizon for new employees as well as information about cyber security training and details of the SolarWinds cyber attack on the US government in 2020.

Li communicated with his MSS handlers using various anonymous Gmail and Yahoo! accounts and other online services, as well as travelling to China for meetings.

His conviction coincides with the US undergoing a widespread expansion of cyber attacks and a related cyber espionage campaign carried out by Chinese state-sponsored threat actors, targeting major telecommunications and other infrastructure companies.

Image: Ideogram

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