The U.S. government announced on Wednesday that it had disrupted a Chinese cyber espionage campaign targeting critical agencies including the U.S. Justice Department, NASA, the Federal Reserve, and the Senate. The operation involved seizing control of domains associated with two hacking platforms known as “QScan” and “QTRouter.”
According to an affidavit, the hackers’ targets included the U.S. Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and undisclosed companies in the U.S. and South Korea. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not provide immediate comments, consistent with Beijing’s usual denial of involvement in cyber intrusions.
The U.S. Justice Department revealed that the hacking platforms were operated by Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Company, a Chinese firm with ties to China’s Ministry of State Security and the People’s Liberation Army. Nanjing Xinjiuwei did not respond to requests for comment.
The affidavit detailed how the hackers had been infiltrating critical infrastructure and sensitive networks globally since at least 2018. Their activities included unsuccessful attempts to breach NASA networks in 2019 and successful intrusions at Energy Department laboratories, the NIH, an HHS agency, and a U.S. security device manufacturer.
The targeted agencies and organizations did not immediately comment on the revelations. This incident adds to a series of Chinese-linked cyberattacks on U.S. government and private networks in recent years. The FBI had previously informed Congress about Chinese hackers breaching agency networks, and Chinese actors have been linked to compromising House of Representatives committee networks and major telecommunications companies.
Experts monitoring Chinese cyber activities suggest that private contractors frequently conduct sophisticated cyber intrusions on behalf of Chinese government entities. Dakota Cary, a China analyst at cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, noted a significant increase in companies providing specialized offensive cyber services in the past decade.