From 2011 to 2018, the Hainan State Security Department (HSSD) recruited hackers and linguists in China to create malware used to hack into companies from 12 different countries and across multiple industries. Those identified from the HSSD that led the group are Ding Xiaoyang, Cheng Qingmin, and Zhu Yunmin.
Hacking
The PRC has many instances of economic espionage but very rarely are they linked directly to government organizations as explicitly as in 2018. In this instance, hackers and insiders were alleged to be working for the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security (JSSD). This branch of the Chinese Ministry of State Security represents the Jiangsu Province, the capital of which is Nanjing.