The Chinese government is allegedly collaborating with private hackers to gather private and sensitive information from foreign firms and countries. I-Soon, a security firm, is part of this network, covertly working with Beijing. The Ministry of Public Security in China is said to have been enlisting private contractors to carry out cyberespionage campaigns. I-Soon, in particular, targeted telecommunications companies, internet gaming companies, and local governments across Asia. The details of the leaked documents also include internal discussions at I-Soon, providing insight into the company’s workplace dynamics and its efforts to market services to the Chinese government.
I-Soon reportedly charged the Chinese government between $15,000 and $278,000 for various services, such as accessing the private website of traffic police in Vietnam and obtaining personal information from social media platforms. The leak has sparked concerns, particularly in the U.S., about the surveillance practices carried out by China. Although the leaked materials do not pertain to any American entities, they shed light on China’s reliance on private companies to execute its spying operations.
China has a history of conducting cyberattacks, with previous instances targeting U.S. companies. In 2015, Chinese hackers breached the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, compromising the personal information of millions of government employees. Although the embarrassment caused by the leak might be significant, experts do not anticipate China will halt its hacking operations. Instead, there will likely be increased efforts to prevent future leaks.
The leaks were made public on GitHub, a platform for sharing code. This forum has been previously used to disseminate sensitive information, including source code from unknown origins. Cybersecurity experts have validated the authenticity of the leaked documents. However, it remains unknown who leaked the information and what their motives were.
