Do Son 
Chinese authorities have accused the United States National Security Agency (NSA) of conducting sophisticated cyberattacks during the Asian Winter Games held in February in the city of Harbin. According to the state-run Xinhua News Agency, critical sectors—such as energy, transportation, telecommunications, water management, and defense research institutions in Heilongjiang province—were targeted in these alleged operations.
Harbin police have issued arrest warrants for three suspected NSA operatives: Catherine A. Wilson, Robert J. Snelling, and Steven W. Johnson. The trio is accused of launching repeated cyberattacks against China’s critical information infrastructure, including assaults on Huawei and other enterprises. The report claims these actions were intended to destabilize systems, steal confidential data, and sow chaos.
In addition to the agents themselves, Chinese authorities have implicated two American academic institutions—the University of California and Virginia Tech—though no specific details regarding their roles were disclosed. The U.S. Embassy in China has not provided a comment in response to the allegations.
The statement asserts that the NSA used anonymous servers and IP addresses leased from Europe and Asia to obfuscate the origin of the attacks. These operations reportedly peaked on February 3rd—the day of the first hockey match—and were allegedly aimed at compromising participant registration systems. According to Chinese claims, the attackers sought to harvest athletes’ personal information and gain access to data related to the organization of the games.
The report further alleges that the NSA activated “pre-installed backdoors” embedded in Windows operating systems on targeted devices within the region.
These accusations come amid escalating trade tensions between the United States and China—a standoff that has already resulted in the suspension of American film imports to China and travel advisories for Chinese tourists visiting the U.S. In turn, the United States has repeatedly accused China-linked hackers, allegedly backed by state actors, of cyberespionage targeting U.S. agencies and allied nations. Just last month, Washington filed charges against a group of suspected Chinese hackers for attacks on the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, and foreign policy agencies in Taiwan, South Korea, India, and Indonesia—allegations that Beijing has consistently denied.
