Chinese Hackers Breached DOJ, NASA, Fed, Senate

The Justice Department said Wednesday that Chinese state-sponsored hackers broke into NASA, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Senate, the Justice Department itself and other sensitive federal agencies — and that the FBI and DOJ have seized internet domains used to run the operation.

The department said the intrusions ran through two hacking platforms called "QScan" and "QTRouter," built and operated by a state-sponsored group known as "QTFY."

DOJ said QTFY was employed by a China-based firm, Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Company, and sold hacking services to paying customers that included China's Ministry of State Security and the People's Liberation Army.

What Was Hit

According to the Justice Department, victims of QTFY intrusion activity include NASA, the Federal Reserve, the Department of Energy, the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Senate.

CNN, cited by Raw Story, reported that additional targets included U.S. military networks, hospitals, power companies and defense contractors.

The point of the setup, DOJ said, was concealment: the tools let attackers break into computers while hiding the hackers' country of origin.