US charges Chinese military operatives with economic cyber-espionage

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 19: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder listens during a news conference to announce indictments against Chinese military hackers on cyber-espionage May 19, 2014 at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. A grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania have indicted five Chinese military hackers for computer hacking, economic espionage and other offense directed at six American victim in the U.S. nuclear power, metals and solar products industries. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The US charged members of the Chinese military with cyber espionage. They allegedly stole trade secrets by hacking into computers and lifting information.

This morning,t he US charged five members of the Chinese military with cyber economic espionage and computer hacking. US Attorney General Eric Holder made the announcement at a press conference in Washington, "Today we are announcing an indictment against five officers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army for serious cyber security breaches against six American victim companies."

They're accused of hacking into the systems of American companies in an effort to steal trade secrets. The companies affected include Alcoa, Westinghouse Electric, Allegheny Technologies, Solar World and the United Steelworkers Union.

This marks the first time the US has brought such criminal charges against a foreign nation.

Siobhan Gorman writes about the case for the Wall Street Journal and joined Take Two to talk about it. For more, please click on the "listen now" button when the audio is posted.