WASHINGTON: The United States offered a US$ 10 million  , reward , on Tuesday ( Dec 10 ) for information leading to the arrest of a Chinese man and co-conspirators wanted for hacking computer firewalls.
Guan Tianfeng, 30, is believed to be living in China’s Sichuan state, according to the US State Department.
On Tuesday, a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and computer forgery was filed.
The US Treasury Department announced that it had imposed restrictions on Chinese Silence Information Technology, the business Guan worked for.
According to the indictment, Guan and other Chinese Silence employees allegedly abused a flaw in Sophos ‘ routers.
US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco stated in a statement that the defendant and his associates “exploited a risk in tens of thousands of community security equipment by infecting them with ransomware intended to steal information from sufferers around the world.”
About 81, 000 network devices were instantly attacked worldwide in April 2020, the accusation said, with the aim of stealing information, including usernames and passwords, while even attempting to harm the servers with malware.
More than 23, 000 antivirus were in the United States, of which 36 were protecting” vital infrastructure firms ‘ methods”, the Treasury said.
Federal Bureau of Investigation broker Herbert Stapleton described the “zero-day risk” Guan Tianfeng and his co-conspirators discovered and abused affected antivirus owned by companies across the United States.
” The harm could have been much more severe if Sophos hadn’t quickly identified the risk and deployed a comprehensive answer.”
According to the accusation, Sichuan Silence sold its service and the data to Taiwanese businesses and government institutions, including the Ministry of Public Security, as per the prosecution.
A man who called a phone number that was connected to Sichuan Silence claimed the company “did not embrace interviews” and that he would not comment on the sanctions.
The person, who did not identify himself when asked by AFP, even said Guan was “uncontactable”.