CNN: Hacker Hacked Into PRC Supercomputer And Stole Petabytes Of Classified Data

• 8.04.2026, 18:46

The burglar obtained military documents, among other things.

A hacker allegedly broke into one of China's state-run supercomputers and stole petabytes (a petabyte is a quadrillion bytes) of sensitive data from there, CNN reported, citing experts. According to the channel, the hacker is trying to sell the data, which includes military documents, online. CNN notes that it cannot confirm the fact of the leak, but quotes experts who believe that, judging by the data published by the hacker, the leak really happened.

The National Supercomputer Center in the Chinese city of Tianjin was hacked. Its clients are about 6,000 organizations, including scientific and military institutions. According to CNN, among them, in particular, the largest Chinese manufacturer of aviation weapons Aviation Industry Corporation of China and the Defense Science and Technology University, which belongs to the Ministry of Defense of China.

Some experts have talked to the alleged hacker, calling himself FlamingChina: according to him, he managed to hack into the supercomputer relatively easily and download secret data from it for months. Experts estimate that the hacker stole more than 10 petabytes of data.

February 6, the hacker posted a sample of the data in an anonymous Telegram channel. He wrote that the data he obtained contained "research in various fields including aerospace engineering, military research, bioinformatics, fusion modeling and more." He offers samples for a few thousand dollars and full access to the database for hundreds of thousands of dollars.