hackers meddled in both the 2016 and 2018 elections" and "Internet security researchers say there have already been signs that China-allied hackers have engaged in so-called 'spear-phishing' attacks on American political targets" ahead of the 2020 United States elections. In 2019, two Chinese nationals were indicted for the Anthem medical data breach. About 80 million company records were hacked, stoking fears that the stolen data could be used for identity theft. In February 2020, the United States government indicted members of China's PLA for hacking into Equifax and plundering sensitive data as part of a massive heist that also included stealing trade secrets. Private records of more than 145 million Americans were compromised in the 2017 Equifax data breach. In July 2020, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray called China the "greatest long-term threat" to the United States. He said that "the FBI is now opening a new China-related counterintelligence case every 10 hours. Of the nearly 5,000 active counterintelligence cases currently under way across the country, almost half are related to China." In July 2020, the United States Department of Justice indicted two Chinese hackers with global computer intrusion campaign targeting intellectual property and confidential business information, including COVID-19 research. It alleged that the two hackers worked with the Guangdong State Security Department of the Ministry of State Security (China). In a July 2021 joint statement with NATO, the EU, and other Western nations, the US accused the Ministry of State Security of perpetrating several cyberattacks, including the 2021 Microsoft Exchange Server data breach. However, it also noted that several attacks were for-profit ransomware attacks by non-government hackers contracted by the MSS for non-intelligence purposes. Additionally, the U.S. Justice Department charged four Chinese nationals accused of working for the MSS with a hacking campaign targeting government, academic, and private institutions; the individuals were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and conspiracy to commit economic espionage. Oceania Australia Former Department of Defence Secretary Dennis Richardson has stated that China is engaged in extensive espionage against Australia, and included surveillance of Chinese Australian communities. Australia believes that the Chinese government have been spying on Australian businesses. A male Chinese student from Fujian was granted a protection visa by the Refugee Review Tribunal of Australia after revealing that he had been instructed to spy on Australian targets in exchange for an overseas scholarship, reporting to the Ministry of