Cybersecurity

China Cybersecurity Firm Sanctioned, Employee Charged by US

The Treasury Department on Tuesday announced sanctions against Chengdu-based Sichuan Silence Information Technology Company.

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
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The US sanctioned a Chinese company it accused of working for intelligence agencies and charged one of its employees with hacking into the computer systems of thousands of businesses across the globe, including American critical infrastructure firms.

The Treasury Department on Tuesday announced sanctions against Chengdu-based Sichuan Silence Information Technology Company, Limited and one of its security researchers, Guan Tianfeng. Federal prosecutors also unsealed an indictment charging Guan with breaking into more than 80,000 firewalls in 2020 to steal company data and install a ransomware virus.