US officials recently disabled a pervasive Chinese hacking operation that compromised thousands of internet-connected devices, sources have said.

Western security officials and another person familiar with the matter said the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation sought and received legal authorization to remotely disable aspects of the Chinese hacking campaign.

Known as Volt Typhoon, the malicious cyber activity has alarmed intelligence officials who say it is part of a larger effort to compromise Western critical infrastructure, including naval ports in places such as Guam in the Pacific, plus internet service providers and utilities.

 

ALSO SEE: Teradyne Pulled $1bn of Chip Testing Equipment Out of China

 

Such breaches could enable China, national security experts said, to remotely disrupt important facilities in the Indo-Pacific region that in some form support or service US military operations.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. A spokesperson for the FBI and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

When Western nations first warned about Volt Typhoon in May, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the hacking allegations were a “collective disinformation campaign” from the Five Eyes countries, a reference to the intelligence sharing grouping of countries made up of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK.

 

  • Reuters with additional editing by Jim Pollard

 

ALSO SEE:

 

Chinese Hackers ‘Spying on Critical US Services, Guam’

 

China is Using AI to Ramp up Espionage, US Says – WSJ

 

US, Japan Warn of New China Hacker After ‘60,000 Emails Stolen’

 

US Signs Defence, Surveillance Pacts With Papua New Guinea

 

US Funding Tapped For Pacific Undersea Cable After China Rebuffed

 

US Says Chinese Hackers ‘Compromise’ Major Telecom Firms

 

Chinese Hackers Stole ‘Trillions’ in IP Secrets – CBS

 

China Says US ‘Repeatedly, Systematically’ Hacked Huawei – SCMP

 

Jim Pollard

Jim Pollard is an Australian journalist based in Thailand since 1999. He worked for News Ltd papers in Sydney, Perth, London and Melbourne before travelling through SE Asia in the late 90s. He was a senior editor at The Nation for 17+ years.


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