FBI Thwarts Major Infrastructure Hacking Scheme by China

The FBI announced Wednesday it disrupted a major operation by Chinese hackers designed to infiltrate crucial infrastructure in the U.S. and overseas.

According to an advisory released by the U.S. and its "Five Eyes" allies (an English-speaking alliance that includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Great Britain), the FBI used a court order to seize control of a network containing hundreds of thousands of hacked internet routers and other devices Chinese government-linked operatives were using to inflict damage on the U.S. and its allies.

"It is just one round in a much longer fight," FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a speech at the Aspen Cyber Summit in Washington, D.C., according to CNN. "The Chinese government is going to continue to target your organizations and our critical infrastructure."

The large web of hacked devices, known as a botnet, enabled the Chinese hackers to conduct targeted cyberattacks on U.S. companies and government agencies. Integrity Technology Group is a Chinese-based company that has controlled and managed a botnet active since mid-2021, according to the FBI advisory.

The FBI reported the botnet consisted of more than 260,000 devices across six continents, noting, "while devices aged beyond their end-of-life dates are known to be more vulnerable to intrusion, many of the compromised devices in the Integrity Tech controlled botnet are likely still supported by the respective vendors."

A breakdown of the vulnerable devices showed that almost 50% of those compromised came from the U.S. with 126,000 devices. The hackers used various known vulnerability exploits to compromise devices, including those from vendors such as Zyxel, Fortinet, and QNAP, among others, as noted by CyberSecurityNews.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington called the U.S. report "groundless" and countered by accusing the U.S. government of conducting their own cyberattacks against China, according to CNN.

In January, Wray told the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party that "China's hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities, if or when China decides the time has come to strike."

The Cyber National Mission Force and National Security Agency assisted with the FBI advisory.

• Hezbollah Pager Attack Puts Spotlight on Israel's Cyber Warfare Unit 8200
• Report: Private Partners Help NSA Fight Election Cyberthreats