The FBI has arrested a Chinese national in connection with a massive breach at the US Office of Personnel Management in 2015.
The exfiltration resulted in the personal details of about 21 million former and current US government employees and their partners being made public.
In what appears to be something similar to the case of British researcher Marcus Hutchins, the man, aged 36, was arrested in Los Angeles when he entered the US to attend a conference.
Hutchins is awaiting trial on charges of writing and distributing banking malware known as Kronos. He was arrested when he was leaving the US after attending the annual DEFCON conference in Las Vegas.
Yu Pingan who hails from Shanghai and is also known as GoldSun, was charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. He has also been charged with conspiracy to commit offence or defraud the US.
{loadposition sam08}He will face charges related to creation of malware known as Sakula — another similarity to the Hutchins case — which is said to have been used to effect the breach.
At the time of the breach, the Chinese government denied any involvement, telling Reuters: "The Chinese government takes resolute strong measures against any kind of hacking attack. We oppose baseless insinuations against China."