US disrupts Chinese hacking operation targeting NASA, Federal Reserve, Senate and other agencies

The Justice Department and FBI seized two Chinese state-sponsored hacking platforms, QScan and QTRouter, targeting US critical infrastructure on Wednesday. The platforms, operated by Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Co, were created by a Chinese group called "QTFY". US Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that state-sponsored hackers will be stopped and prosecuted.

The Chinese embassy in Washington denied involvement, urging the US not to use cybersecurity issues to smear China. Other victims of the QTFY hacking operations included the Department of Energy, Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, and numerous hospitals, telecommunications providers, power companies, financial institutions, and defense contractors.

US Attorney Adam Gordon for the Southern District of California emphasized that the US is fighting to protect critical services Americans rely on. However, analysts pointed out the transnational nature of cyber threats, the anonymity of foreign individuals involved, and the ease of creating and moving sites, making it difficult to prosecute and counter cyberhacking operations.

The Trump administration had reduced staff and budgets at US agencies responsible for fighting these threats. QTFY's hacking services, like QScan and QTRouter, worked together to scan and infect thousands of smart devices, creating a network that could obscure the Chinese origin of malicious activities. The seizure of QScan and QTRouter was justified due to money-laundering laws and the hard-coded domains in the malware.

China frequently denies accusations of state-sponsored cyber hacking, but Western intelligence agencies and cybersecurity firms have identified numerous Chinese state-backed threats.