Dunn and Hunsaker resigned from HP last month amid a growing controversy about unethical and potentially illegal tactics used to expose a board member that had been apparently leaking secrets to journalists.
It’s alleged that private investigators brought in by Dunn, Hunsaker and other HP executives obtained the telephone records of nine journalists, two HP workers, and seven current or former board members, along with their families, in a trick of impersonation referred to as "pretexting".
"In this misguided effort, people inside and outside HP violated privacy rights and broke state law. Those who cross the legal line must be held accountable," California’s Attorney General Bill Lockyer told reporters.
Three private detectives -- Ronald DeLia, Matthew Depante and Bryan Wagner -- involved in the alleged spying operations were also indicted.
"One of our state's most venerable corporate institutions lost its way and its board sought to find out who leaked confidential information to the press," Mr Lockyer said.
Each face four felony counts: use of false or fraudulent pretences to obtain confidential information from a public utility; unauthorised access to computer data; identity theft; and conspiracy to commit each of those crimes.
Each charge carries a fine of up to US$10,000 (A$13,500) and three years in prison.
Pretexting
The scandal erupted last month when HP disclosed that detectives it hired to root out a series of boardroom leaks secretly obtained detailed phone logs of directors, employees and journalists.
The detectives allegedly used a potentially criminal form of subterfuge known as “pretexting” to masquerade as their targets and trick telephone companies into turning over their records.
DeLia is a director at Security Outsource Solutions, which was contracted by HP for the investigation job. Depante was a manager at Florida-based "information broker" Action Research Group and Wagner was an employee.
US Representative Ed Markey, a Democratic leader on the House Telecommunications and Internet subcommittee, urged Congress to pass pending legislation to increase penalties for pretexting.
Dunn was among HP executives grilled by Mr Markey and other members of Congress at a subcommittee hearing last week. Dunn repeatedly denied endorsing any wrongdoing.
Hunsaker was one of ten former HP executives and outside private detectives that declined to testify before the subcommittee. They shielded themselves behind the constitutional right not to incriminate themselves.
In her statement to the House panel, Dunn contended that she had been assured by company lawyers and security veterans that all the tactics were "above board".
The House committee's senior Democrat, John Dingell of Michigan, invoked the Watergate scandal in describing the subterfuge at HP as "a plumbing operation that would make Richard Nixon blush".
HP chief executive Mark Hurd is not among those charged, nor was HP's former General Counsel Ann Baskins, who had some oversight of the company's investigation of media leaks.
Hewlett Packard declined to discuss the criminal charges and said it was continuing to cooperate with the investigation.