US Sanctions Chinese Cyber Firm Linked to Botnet Attack

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Chinese cybersecurity firm Integrity Technology Group for its alleged role in a state-sponsored botnet attack known as Flax Typhoon.

Integrity Technology, which is traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, was involved in “multiple computer intrusion incidents against U.S. victims,” Treasury said in a statement announcing the sanctions. “Chinese malicious cyber actors continue to be one of the most active and most persistent threats to U.S. national security.”

In September, the FBI said it had dismantled Flax Typhoon, which hijacked connected devices, using them as part of a tool directed against government agencies and companies.

In its statement Friday, Treasury said Flax Typhoon had used infrastructure linked to Integrity Technology to compromise computer networks in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

“The United States will use all available tools to disrupt these threats as we continue working collaboratively to harden public and private sector cyber defenses,” Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith said in the statement.

The sanctions were imposed days after the U.S. said Chinese state-sponsored hackers breached the Treasury Department’s networks in what was described as a “major cybersecurity incident.” The computers of senior U.S. Treasury Department leaders were broken into as part of the attack.

On Dec. 27, the White House said nine telecommunications firms had been breached by another state-sponsored Chinese hacking group known as Salt Typhoon.