WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (Askume) – U.S. law enforcement agencies have dismantled a second major Chinese hacking group called “Flax Typhoon” and seized thousands of compromised computers, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a cybersecurity conference in Washington, Wray said Flax is run by a Chinese company called Typhoon Integrity Technology Group, which describes itself as an IT company but “collects intelligence for Chinese government security agencies and also uses it in espionage activities”.
In a public announcement on Wednesday, Internet authorities from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand also accused Integrity Technology Group of being behind the malicious network operation and said that as of June, the company had compromised more than 250,000 devices worldwide.
In a statement, the Chinese Embassy in Washington accused US officials of “reaching inappropriate conclusions and making groundless accusations against China” and said Beijing cracks down on “all forms of cyber attacks”.
A previously unknown hacker group called “Volt Typhoon” has become the focus of Western authorities since it was first identified last year as a cyber-disruption group focused on gaining a foothold in US critical infrastructure.
US officials said it was a China-backed group, while Beijing said it was a ransomware group.
Lei said the operation against Typhoon Lynn, carried out last week, “is part of our ongoing efforts to take China’s botnets offline.” He added that like “Typhoon Volt,” “Typhoon Lynn” also targeted key infrastructure including businesses, media organizations, universities and government agencies.
To conceal its actions, Ray explained, Flax Typhoon routes its malicious traffic through so-called “botnets,” which are networks of hijacked devices, in this case cameras and digital storage devices.
He said the hackers launched cyber attacks when the FBI tried to take control of the botnet’s infrastructure but later gave up the fight.
Wray warned that the FBI would continue to struggle with Chinese hackers.
He said the operation against Typhoon Ma was “just one round in a long battle.”
