The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is charging a 38-year-old Chinese national and California resident former Google engineer with stealing proprietary information, including Google’s AI trade secrets – during his employment at two China-based technology companies.
Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, a former Google engineer, was arrested on March 6, 2024, for transferring confidential trade secrets and other proprietary information from the Google network to his personal account, during which he secretly connected with companies based in the PRC in the field of artificial intelligence, according to the Department of Justice.
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An individual is accused of stealing more than 500 confidential files from Google containing artificial intelligence (AI)and passing them on to two unnamed Chinese companies as they seek to gain a lead in an evolving battle over artificial intelligence.
"By obtaining Google's trade secrets related to artificial intelligence systems, Linwei Ding improperly gained a competitive advantage for himself and the companies he worked with in the People's Republic of China.".
Ding, who joined Google as a software engineer in 2019, is accused of illegally obtaining personal data related to the company's infrastructure. This infrastructure is used to run AI models, the Cluster Management System (CMS) software to manage data centers, and the AI models and applications they support.
The theft occurred between May 21, 2022, and May 2, 2023, on a personal Google Cloud account, the indictment states. It adds that Ding secretly connected with two China-based technology companies.
This included a company where he was offered the position of chief technology sometime around June 2022 and another company founded by Ding himself no later than May 30, 2023, acting as its CEO.
“Ding announced the development of a software designed to accelerate machine learning workloads, including training large artificial intelligence models.”
“A document related to Ding’s startup company states: “We have gained experience with Google’s ten thousand card computing platform. We just need to replicate and upgrade it, and then develop a new computing platform that suits China’s national conditions.”
Linwei Ding took steps to conceal the theft of trade secrets. He copied data from Google files into the Apple Notes on his company-provided MacBook, then converted the notes into PDF files before transferring them to his Google account.
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Additionally, Ding allegedly allowed another Google employee in December 2023 to use access to enter a Google building, making his presence in the building in China legal while he was effectively absent from Google's U.S. office. He submitted his resignation from Google on December 26, 2023.
Linwei Ding is charged with four counts of trade secret theft. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count.
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Source: thehackernews
