U.S. officials announced on Wednesday that they have disrupted a significant Chinese hacking operation that successfully breached the systems of critical institutions, including the Department of Justice, NASA, the Federal Reserve, and the U.S. Senate, as reported by Reuters.
According to a statement from the Department of Justice, authorities seized domains associated with two hacking platforms named “QScan” and “QTRouter,” which were allegedly used in this campaign.
A sworn statement identified several victims of the hackers, including the U.S. Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and four unnamed companies based in the United States and South Korea.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. Beijing has consistently denied any involvement in hacking activities.
The Department of Justice indicated that the platforms were managed by a Chinese firm, Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Company, which, according to the U.S. agency, served clients including China’s civilian intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security, and the People’s Liberation Army.
Reuters noted that it was unable to immediately locate contact information for Nanjing Xinjiuwei. The sworn declaration specified that the group’s infrastructure had been used to compromise critical infrastructure and other sensitive networks in the United States and worldwide at least since 2018.
Experts monitoring Chinese cyber activity assert that private contractors frequently conduct large-scale intrusions on behalf of various Chinese government agencies. “Over the past decade, the number of companies offering niche offensive services has grown exponentially,” stated Dakota Cary, an analyst at cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, specializing in China-related issues.
