US Charges 3 With Vast ‘Crypto Jacking’ Computer Fraud Scheme
According to an indictment dated May 2019 and unsealed Wednesday, Jiang Lizhi, Qian Chuan and Fu Qiang ran their multi-year front out of the purportedly “white hat” Chinese cybersecurity firm Chengdu 404 Network Technology Co. Their indictment outlines how Chengdu 404’s chief officers targeted at least 100 “victim companies, organizations and individuals” with a multi-year cyber scheme that employed “big data” analytics to maximize its impact.
Beginning in May 2014, the trio “conspired to commit a sprawling array of computer intrusions targeting protected computers belonging to hospitality, video game, technology and telecommunications companies, research universities, non-governmental organizations, and other organizations around the world,” according to the indictment. They allegedly stole source code and customer data from the companies, deployed “supply chain hacks” to knock out customers’ own computers like dominoes, infected networks with ransomware and installed cryptocurrency mining malware to bolster Chengdu 404’s bottom line.
