US Cyber Spy Commanded from China Gets Four Years in Prison

The US justice system has sentenced a Floridian to four years in prison, plus three years of supervised release, for selling national secrets to China’s intelligence services.

59-year-old Ping Li, a resident of Wesley Chapel, Florida, had immigrated to the United States from the People’s Republic of China years back.

Working in various roles for US telecommunications companies and IT organizations, Li would serve as a cooperative contact working at the direction of officers of the PRC’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) to obtain information of interest to China’s government, according to the US Department of Justice.

Dissidents, religious movements, cyber training materials

At the request of the MSS, Li obtained troves of information concerning Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy advocates, members of the Falun Gong religious movement, and US-based non-governmental organizations, then reported the information to the MSS.

Li also provided the MSS with information obtained from his employers, including cyber training materials that would supposedly help MSS agents tailor China’s attack avenues in the cyber space.

“In March 2022, an MSS officer requested information from Li concerning Li’s new employer, an international information technology company, as well as materials relating to cybersecurity training,” the DOJ press release adds. “That same day, Li sent the requested information about his employer as well as materials relating to cybersecurity training.”

China curious about impact of cyberattacks on US soil

Li used a variety of anonymous online accounts to relay back to the MSS, and even traveled to the PRC to meet with the MSS.

Court documents say that in May 2021, an MSS officer requested information from Li concerning hacking events targeting US companies, including a widely publicized hacking of a major U.S. company by the Chinese government.

“Within four days, Li responded with the requested information,” the DOJ says.

Classic foreign espionage

Li has been sentenced to 48 months in prison for conspiring to act as an agent of the People’s Republic of China “without notification to the Attorney General,” and is ordered to pay a fine of $250,000, plus serve three years of supervised release.

The sentencing comes as the US government investigates widespread cyber espionage campaign undertaken by Chinese state-sponsored actors targeting major telecommunications companies.

As reported by The Register, the Biden administration recently invited telecommunications executives to elaborate on China's recent attacks.

In this regard, Senator Mark R. Warner told The Washington Post that China’s recent attacks on telcos may require the replacement of “literally thousands and thousands and thousands” of switches and routers.

He also remarked that China's sustained cyber espionage efforts are so far-reaching they make the SolarWinds and Colonial Pipeline incidents look like “child’s play.”