Chinese Hacker Accused Of Stealing F-35 Fighter Lauded As Hero In China!

Chinese state media is full of praise for the hacker accused of stealing a US F-35 Fighter Plane

A state-run media last Wednesday said that spying on the US is a service to China while praising the Chinese national who hacked the networks of US defense contractors, delivering confidential information to China. According to court documents, Su Bin also known as Stephen Su locally, is a “wealthy businessman.”

While Su, 50, is being celebrated as a hero in his home country, he has pled guilty to conspiring with others to break into the networks of Boeing and other American defense contractors in a federal court in Los Angeles, California. He admitted to conspiring with two unnamed accomplices in China to try to acquire plans for F-22 and F-35 fighter jets and C-17 transport aircraft. According to prosecutors, the hacking took place between October 2008 and March 2014.

The Chinese government has denied any connection to Su’s case. The Chinese millionaire had been residing in Canada, fought extradition to the US, and then struck a deal whereby a guilty plea would limit his sentence to no more than five years imprisonment.

In the meanwhile, Su is being lauded as patriotic in his home country. “We have no reliable source to identify whether Su has stolen these secrets and transferred them to the Chinese government. If he has, we are willing to show our gratitude and respect for his service to our country,” said an editorial in the Global Times, a nationalistic newspaper with close ties to the ruling Communist Party.