U.S. charges four Chinese military officers over Equifax hack

U.S. charges four Chinese military officers over Equifax hack

WASHINGTON (check dateline) — A federal grand jury charged four Chinese military officers on Tuesday for the massive hack of the credit rating giant Equifax that occurred in 2017.

The four are alleged members of the People's Liberation Army's 54th Research Institute.

Speaking at a press conference in Washington, U.S. Attorney General William Barr called the hack 'one of the largest data breaches in history.'

Barr said the hackers stole personal information and trade secrets including data compilation and database designs.

BBC reports that the hackers allegedly routed traffic through 32 servers in nearly 20 countries to conceal their location as they conducted the cyber attack, which occurred from May to June in 2017.

The U.S. Department of Justice named three of the four suspects, but their whereabouts are unknown.

The Washington Post quotes FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich as saying, "We can't take them into custody, try them in a court of law, and lock them up — not today, anyway."