Chinese national gets 46 months in U.S. prison for hacking conspiracy

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A Chinese man who pleaded guilty to conspiring to hack into the computer networks of Boeing and other major U.S. defense contractors, was sentenced on Wednesday to nearly four years in prison, prosecutors said.

Su Bin, 51, was charged with taking part in a years-long scheme by Chinese military officers to obtain sensitive military information. In addition to the 46-months-long prison term, a judge in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles also ordered Su to pay a $10,000 fine.

“Su Bin’s sentence is a just punishment for his admitted role in a conspiracy with hackers from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force to illegally access and steal sensitive U.S. military information,” John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement.

“Su assisted the Chinese military hackers in their efforts to illegally access and steal designs for cutting-edge military aircraft that are indispensable to our national defense,” the statement said.

Su was arrested in Canada in 2014 and ultimately consented to U.S. extradition.

He pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiring to gain unauthorized access to a protected computer and to violate the Arms Export Control Act.

(Reporting by Dan Levine and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Chris Reese and Grant McCool)