On Friday, July 24, the United States Department of Justice released the official court files of the Singaporean national, arrested for spying in America. According to the file, the Singaporean pleads guilty of working in a Chinese intelligence to spy in the Federal government. Here's how he did it.
China vs. USA: The hacking war issue
BBC reported Jun Wei Yeo, a Singaporean national, admits spying for the Chinese intelligence on Friday. He was charged with using his political consultancy in America.
Days before this, the U.S. government ordered China to close its consulate office in Houston, Texas. The office was said to be the capital of Chinese spying operations in the country.
Yeo's target revolves around Americans looking for a job. According to the investigation, Yeo was directed by Chinese intelligence to open up a fake consultancy office in the country wherein he also offers jobs.
He collects all the American applicants' resumes, mostly part of the U.S. military that had security clearances on its name. Once he got all the needed info, Yeo will segregate the resumes of the personnel they'll found interesting and submit it to the Chinese intelligence group.
Yeo described his job "to spot and assess Americans with access to valuable non-public information, including U.S. military and government employees with high-level security clearances."
More than 400 resumes were said to be submitted. Some of the applicants were working on the Air Force's F-35B stealth fighter-bomber project, a Pentagon army officer with Afghanistan experience, and a U.S. State Department official.
Assistant Attorney General John Demers said in a statement that Yeo has been "using career networking sites and a false consulting firm to lure Americans who might be of interest to the Chinese government."
"This is yet another example of the Chinese government's exploitation of the openness of American society," he added.
The hacking operation lasted for four years
Not only U.S. Military men were their targets, but the operation of Yeo and his team also started in 2015 up to 2019. This means that the Chinese spying operation lasted for four long years.
Officer Demers said that the reported crime was part of the Chinese Communist Party's plan to take advantage of the country's open society and exploit academic institutions.
Aside from Yeo, other Chinese personnel that got arrested were Tang Juan, who was arrested on Thursday night, and Chen Song.
