The US claims that Chinese hackers gained access to the Senate, DOJ, NASA, and Federal Reserve. – Washington On August 26, the Justice Department announced that it had stopped a Chinese hacking operation that it believes was causing cyberattacks at the DOJ, NASA, the Federal Reserve, the Senate, and other important U.S. government organizations.
The Justice Department said in a statement that it had taken control of two hacking platforms’ internet domains, “QScan” and “QTRouter,” which it claimed were utilized in the intrusion campaign.
The two hacking platforms were “created and operated” by a People’s Republic of China state-sponsored organization called “QTFY,” which worked for China-based Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Company, according to court filings unsealed in the Southern District of California.
According to Justice Department documents, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Federal Reserve, the Department of Energy, the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Senate are among the victims of QTFY’s computer intrusion activity.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington is being contacted by Sortea for comment. The Beijing administration has previously denied any involvement in hacking operations directed by the United States.
“We will stop and prosecute state-sponsored bad hackers who prey on America’s vital infrastructure. In a statement, Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “We are here to ensure security for the American people and will use every tool we have to keep that promise.”
Federal law enforcement “detected and disabled the PRC’s malicious software,” according to Blanche, in the most recent of several technical operations to stop “indiscriminate hacking operations sponsored by the People’s Republic of China.”
According to FBI Director Kash Patel, the agency was instrumental in stopping “a global botnet and hacking platform used by Chinese state-sponsored hackers to target U.S. critical infrastructure.”
“The FBI is surging efforts to shape adversary behavior and defend the homeland in cyberspace,” Patel stated, endorsing President Donald Trump’s Cyber Strategy for America.
Court documents claim that QTFY provides computer hacking services to its paying clients, which include the People’s Liberation Army and China’s Ministry of State Security, which have some of the most powerful hacking capabilities in the world.
According to the court documents, QTFY’s computer hacking services collaborate, with QScan automatically scanning and infecting thousands of “internet-of-things” (IoT) devices worldwide. After that, such devices are joined to the QTRouter network of QTFY-controlled devices, which also acts as a “obfuscation network” to hide the origin of their computer intrusion activities, which is connected to the Chinese government.
According to the court records, QScan and QTRouter were rendered unusable by the court-authorized seizures revealed on August 26.
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