U.S. Says Chinese Hackers Breached Justice Department, NASA and Senate Networks

The United States announced today (Wednesday) that it had disrupted a large-scale cyber operation originating in China, in which hackers managed over the years to penetrate the networks of some of the most sensitive bodies in the U.S. government. The targets included the Justice Department, NASA, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Senate.

According to an announcement by the U.S. Justice Department, authorities seized domains used by two attack platforms known as "QScan" and "QTRouter." The department said the two were used by the hackers as part of the campaign and were included in the infrastructure that enabled intrusions into sensitive computer systems.

An affidavit released as part of the operation against the infrastructure indicates that the U.S. Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Institutes of Health were also breached. In addition, four companies whose names were not disclosed, operating in the United States and South Korea, were also identified as victims of the hackers.

According to the Justice Department, the two platforms were operated by a Chinese company called Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Company. U.S. authorities claim that the company’s clients included key government bodies in China, including the Ministry of State Security, China’s civilian intelligence agency, as well as the People’s Liberation Army.

The affidavit further alleges that the group’s computing infrastructure had been used since at least 2018 to infiltrate critical infrastructure and other sensitive networks, both in the United States and in other countries around the world. According to U.S. officials, this was therefore an operation that continued for years, rather than a one-time cyberattack.