Guilty plea on computer hacking
Guilty plea on computer hacking
A Chinese citizen, Yan Ming Shan, 34, of Daqing, China, has pleaded
guilty in federal court in San Jose to a one-count indictment charging
him with gaining unauthorized access to the computers of a Silicon
Valley business in an attempt to steal proprietary software programs
and source code, according to the U.S. Attorney's office for Northern
California.
According to the criminal complaint and other court filings, Mr. Shan
worked for 3DGeo Development, Inc., a Mountain View company that
develops software used to survey land for sources of natural gas and
oil from April to September 2002. 3DGeo employed Mr. Shan under an
agreement with one of its customers, PetroChina, a Chinese company
with a division named DaQing Oil, which arranged for Mr. Shan to
travel to California for training on 3DGEO's software. In pleading
guilty to the indictment, Mr. Shan admitted that he gained
unauthorized access to 3DGeo's computer system with an intent to
defraud the company.
The maximum statutory penalty he faces is five years in prison and a
fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled before U.S. District Judge
Jeremy Fogel in San Jose on Sept. 7.
