http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/07/01/us_manufacturer_wants_commerce_dept_to_penalize_china_for_cyberattack_0
By Shane Harris
Foreign Policy
July 1, 2014
A U.S. solar panel manufacturer whose business secrets were allegedly
stolen by Chinese computer hackers has asked the U.S. government to
investigate the matter, setting in motion a process that could see the
United States impose trade penalties for the first time in response to
state-sponsored cyber-espionage against an American company.
In a filing with the Commerce Department on Tuesday, July 1, the U.S.
subsidiary of German company SolarWorld, which builds solar panels and
equipment, asked officials to investigate allegations contained in a
recent criminal indictment accusing five members of the People's
Liberation Army with hacking the company's computers and stealing
proprietary information. Prosecutors say that the hackers took
SolarWorld's price lists, product designs, and communications between the
company and its lawyers in a series of computer incursions that began in
2012.
"The [government of China's] theft of SolarWorld's trade and financial
information has inflicted, and will likely continue to inflict significant
and, as yet, unquantified harm on SolarWorld," the company told the
Commerce Department. But the hackers weren't just after SolarWorld's
product information. They also allegedly stole information about a trade
case that SolarWorld has been pressing against Chinese solar panel
manufacturers, which it accuses of unfairly dumping their cheap products
in the U.S. market. The compromised information could give Chinese
officials a peek at the evidence the company planned to use in its trade
case.
"As the indictment makes clear, the focus of much of the cyber theft was
related to SolarWorld's trade remedy cases against Chinese solar
manufacturers," the company said. This suggests that the hacking has a
"direct bearing" on the Commerce Department's investigation of Chinese
dumping, which has been occurring for years.
[...]
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