The FBI has successfully disrupted a Chinese state-sponsored hacking operation that compromised over 200,000 consumer devices in the U.S.
Director Chris Wray announced that the hacking campaign, known as Flax Typhoon, had been operating undetected for months, targeting universities, government agencies, and telecommunications providers, among other organizations.
Home routers, cameras, and video recorders were infiltrated in the process.
It is believed that the state-sponsored hackers conducted their operation for Integrity Technology Group, a company based in Beijing.
The hacker’s botnet—a network of infected computers—was designed to steal sensitive data from victims’ devices, with nearly half the compromised devices located in the United States.
“Flax Typhoon’s actions caused real harm to its victims, who had to devote precious time to clean up the mess when they discovered the malware,” Wray said during the Aspen Cyber Summit.