Chinese Hacker Singlehandedly Responsible For Exploiting 81,000 Sophos Firewalls, DOJ Says

An anonymous reader shares a report: A Chinese hacker indicted earlier this month and the PRC-based cybersecurity company he worked for are both sanctioned by the US government for compromising 'tens of thousands of firewalls' -- some protecting US critical infrastructure, putting human lives at risk.

In a series of coordinated actions, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Department of Justice (DoJ), and the FBI said the massive cyber espionage campaign, which compromised at least 36 firewalls protecting US critical infrastructure, posed significant risks to national security.

A federal court in Indiana earlier this month unsealed an indictment charging 30-year-old Guan Tianfeng (Guan) with conspiracy to commit computer and wire fraud by hacking into firewall devices worldwide, including one 'used by an agency of the United States.' Guan, employed by the Chinese cybersecurity firm Sichuan Silence -- a known contractor for Beijing intelligence -- was alleged to have discovered a zero-day vulnerability in firewall products manufactured by UK cybersecurity firm Sophos.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.