The US Department of Justice accused four Chinese soldiers of stealing the data of 145 million people.

The US Department of Justice has charged four Chinese military officers with hacking Equifax, the largest US credit bureau, and stealing the personal data of tens of millions of Americans, writes Associated Press.

All of the defendants serve in China's People's Liberation Army, said U.S. Attorney General William Barr . They are accused of economic espionage. According to Barr, the stolen data could help China develop the field of artificial intelligence.

In September 2017, Equifax reported that it suffered the largest hack in history between May and July of that year, stealing the personal data of 145.5 million people in the US, Canada and the UK. The hackers gained access to databases with the names, dates of birth, addresses and social security numbers of Americans. In addition, over 200,000 people had their bank card numbers stolen.