Chinese hackers or spies

Are the US Justice Departmentࢀ™s alleged hackers Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi Chinese spies or merely run-of-the-mill criminals? The US Justice Departmentࢀ™s indictment of two alleged Chinese hackers, Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, provides an extraordinarily wide-ranging list of companies and activities said to have been targeted by the hackers around the world. The two are charged with offences including conspiracy to damage computers, conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Unsealing the charges US Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers fuelled a Chinese spy conspiracy story saying that the two…