"The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company, Limited (Wuhan XRZ), a Wuhan, China-based Ministry of State Security (MSS) front company that has served as cover for multiple malicious cyber operations. OFAC is also designating Zhao Guangzong and Ni Gaobin, two Chinese nationals affiliated with Wuhan XRZ, for their roles in malicious cyber operations targeting U.S. entities that operate within U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, directly endangering U.S. national security...."
"People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored malicious cyber actors continue to be one of the greatest and most persistent threats to U.S. national security, as highlighted in the most recent Office of the Director of National Intelligence Annual Threat Assessment..."
"the Department of Justice unsealed indictments of Zhao Guangzong, Ni Gaobin, and five other defendants..."
"APT 31 is a collection of Chinese state-sponsored intelligence officers, contract hackers, and support staff that conduct malicious cyber operations on behalf of the Hubei State Security Department (HSSD). APT 31 has targeted a wide range of high-ranking U.S. government officials and their advisors integral to U.S. national security including staff at the White House; the Departments of Justice, Commerce, the Treasury, and State; members of Congress, including both Democrat and Republican Senators; the United States Naval Academy; and the United States Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute...."
"APT 31 has targeted victims in some of America’s most vital critical infrastructure sectors, including the Defense Industrial Base, information technology, and energy sectors. APT 31 actors have gained unauthorized access to multiple Defense Industrial Base victims, including a defense contractor that manufactured flight simulators for the U.S. military, a Tennessee-based aerospace and defense contractor, and an Alabama-based aerospace and defense research corporation. Additionally, APT 31 actors gained unauthorized access to a Texas-based energy company..."
"OFAC is designating Wuhan XRZ pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13694,...for being responsible for or complicit in, or having engaged in, directly or indirectly cyber enabled activities originating from, or directed by persons located, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States that are reasonably likely to result in, or has materially contributed to, a significant threat to the national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability of the United States and that have the purpose or effect of harming, or otherwise significantly compromising the provision of services by, a computer or network of computers that support one or more entities in a critical infrastructure sector......"
