US Disrupts Chinese Hacking Operation Targeting Government Agencies

US officials have disrupted a Chinese hacking operation that targeted sensitive government agencies, including NASA and the Federal Reserve. The Justice Department announced that it has seized internet domains used by two hacking platforms, 'QScan' and 'QTRouter,' which were employed in the penetration campaign by the Beijing government.

According to court documents, hackers from a Chinese state-sponsored group known as 'QTFY' allegedly created and operated these platforms to burrow into US target networks. The victims of QTFY's computer intrusion activity included the Department of Justice, NASA, the Federal Reserve, and the U.S. Senate.

While the Senate and NASA systems successfully held against the hackers' scanning tools, other agencies were penetrated. The court-authorized seizures made QScan and QTRouter inoperable, disrupting a global botnet and hacking platform used by Chinese state-sponsored hackers to target US critical infrastructure.