Reported Leak of Chinese Hacking Files Supports US Warnings

A reported trove of leaked Chinese hacking documents may have given the world a glimpse of how widespread and effective China's hacking operations could be.

More than 570 files and documents were posted to the developer platform GitHub last week, The Washington Post reported. They appear to document hacking activity across multiple countries and come from iSoon, which the Post identified as a private security contractor with ties to China's Ministry of Public Security.

"We have every reason to believe this is the authentic data of a contractor supporting global and domestic cyber espionage operations out of China," a cybersecurity expert, John Hultquist, told the Post.

On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that China's police were investigating the leak, citing two unnamed iSoon employees it spoke with. The employees told the AP that the documents belonged to the group.