Chinese national accused of trying to steal computer software, code from NASA and other agencies

A man has been indicted on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft due to his attempts to fraudulently get computer software and source code created by NASA, research universities, and private companies.

According to U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan, Song Wu, a Chinese national, engaged in a multi-year “spear phishing” email campaign, creating email accounts to impersonate U.S.-based researchers and engineers and then used those imposter accounts to get specialized restricted or proprietary software used for aerospace engineering and computational fluid dynamics.

That specialized software could be used for industrial and military applications.

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Song is accused of sending “spear phishing” emails to people working for the U.S. government, including the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Army, and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Buchanan says the emails appeared to the targeted victims as having been sent by a colleague, associate, friend, or someone else in the research or engineering community, and would ask the victim to send available source code or software.

According to the indictment, Song was employed as an engineer at Aviation Industry of China, a Chinese-state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Beijing, China.

The company manufactures civilian and military aircraft are is one of the biggest defense contractors in the world.

Wu, 39, is charged with 14 counts of wire fraud and 14 counts of aggravated identity theft.

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He faces a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud.

He also faces a mandatory, two-year consecutive sentence in prison if he is convicted of aggravated identity theft.

“Once again, the FBI and our partners have demonstrated that cyber criminals around the world who are seeking to steal our companies’ most sensitive and valuable information can and will be exposed and held accountable,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “As this indictment shows, the FBI is committed to pursuing the arrest and prosecution of anyone who engages in illegal and deceptive practices to steal protected information.”

A booking photo is unavailable because Wu faces federal charges. Booking photos are not taken in the federal system.

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