Chinese hackers broke into US Justice Department, NASA, Senate and more, say officials

The FBI has seized a series of domains used by a large-scale botnet to coordinate and launch cyberattacks against American targets, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday. The domains were disabled, denying the botnet operators access to communication platforms. The botnet belonged to QTFY, a China-state sponsored group run by Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Tech, which created and operated the compromised internet-connected devices.

The botnet aimed to serve as obfuscation networks to hide malicious traffic. QTFY offers hacking services to customers, including Chinese government hackers from the Ministry of State Security. The botnet's attacks began in 2018, targeting NASA, the Federal Reserve, and several federal departments, including Justice, Health and Human Services, and the Senate as recently as 2026.

The Justice Department stated that the domain seizures rendered the botnet and its command and control servers inoperable, as the domains were crucial for the botnet's communication and operations. Network giant Lumen reported that the hackers had been profiling and targeting government agencies, defense and aerospace sectors, and others for the past year, sharing threat intelligence with the FBI.