Chinese State-Sponsored Hackers Target US Government Institutions

A Chinese state-sponsored hacking group has been linked to cyberattacks on sensitive U.S. government institutions, including the Federal Reserve and NASA.

The Justice Department and FBI announced that they had seized three internet domains used to operate two hacking platforms, QScan and QTRouter, which authorities say were deployed against U.S. critical infrastructure and sensitive government networks.

According to court documents unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, the platforms were created and operated by a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as QTFY.

The group was employed by China-based Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Company. Among the federal victims identified by the DOJ were NASA, the Federal Reserve, the Justice Department, the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Senate.