The nine people, including intelligence officers, state-controlled hackers, and recruited agents inside companies were linked to computer intrusions at U.S. and European companies and the theft of turbofan jet engine technology used in commercial airliners.
The operation was directed by cyber spies operating out of the Jiangsu Province branch of the Ministry of State Security, the civilian spy service, based in Nanjing, China, and known as the JSSD.
Two MSS officers indicted in the case were identified as Zha Rong and Chai Meng, who worked with state-controlled Chinese hackers and insiders working for targeted aerospace companies.
The MSS hacker team under the direction of the two MSS officers were identified as Zhang Zhang-Gui, Liu Chunliang, Gao Hong Kun, Zhuang Xiaowei, and Ma Zhiqi.
The Justice Department did not say where the nine people are or whether any have been arrested.
"From January 2010 to May 2015, JSSD employees, along with individuals working at the direction of the JSSD, conspired to steal sensitive commercial technological, aviation, and aerospace data by hacking into computers in the United States and abroad," states the indictment dated Oct. 25 and unsealed on Tuesday.