US charges two Malaysian businessmen, five Chinese residents over massive hacking operation

WASHINGTON (Reuters): The US Justice Department has charged five Chinese residents and two Malaysian businessmen in a wide-ranging hacking effort that encompassed targets from videogames to pro-democracy activists.

Federal prosecutors said the Chinese nationals had been charged with hacking more than 100 companies in the United States and abroad, including software development companies, computer manufacturers, telecommunications providers, social media companies, gaming firms, nonprofit organisations, universities, and think tanks, as well as foreign governments and politicians and civil society figures in Hong Kong.