Police hunt three NSA agents over cyberattacks

Police in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, said on Tuesday that they are pursuing three operatives affiliated with the United States National Security Agency over their alleged involvement in advanced cyberattacks, most likely assisted by artificial intelligence, targeting China's critical infrastructure as well as the Asian Winter Games held in the city in February.

Investigations by Chinese technical teams found that the attacks were carried out by the NSA's Office of Tailored Access Operations. Police added three alleged NSA agents — Katheryn A. Wilson, Robert J. Snelling and Stephen W.Johnson — to a wanted list in connection with the attacks.

There are strong indications that AI played a role in the attacks, which was unprecedented and posed significant challenges to national security defense systems, said Zhou Hongyi, founder of cybersecurity company 360 Security Technology, which took part in the investigations.