A Chinese cybersecurity company has been sanctioned by the U.S. for its role in facilitating attacks conducted by a state-sponsored hacking group known for targeting critical infrastructure.
Beijing-based Integrity Technology Group provided the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Ministry of State Security and several Chinese state-backed hacking groups with infrastructure that allows them to attack multiple victims based in the U.S., according to U.S. officials.
The Treasury Department said Integrity Technology provided Flax Typhoon actors with infrastructure between the summer of 2022 and fall of 2023 — with the state-backed groups sharing and receiving information from the company.
In September, the Department of Justice disrupted a botnet of more than 260,000 consumer devices infected and controlled by Integrity Technology. At the same time, the FBI and National Security Agency published an advisory about tactics used by Flax Typhoon and Integrity Technology.
“Integrity Tech is a large PRC government contractor with ties to the Ministry of State Security. It provides services to country and municipal State Security and Public Security Bureaus, as well as other PRC cybersecurity government contractors,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Friday.
“PRC-based hackers working for Integrity Tech, known to the private sector as ‘Flax Typhoon,’ were working at the direction of the PRC government, targeting critical infrastructure in the United States and overseas.”
The hackers have successfully targeted universities, government agencies, telecommunications providers and media organizations in the U.S. and elsewhere, Miller added.
The sanctions on Integrity Technology freeze all U.S. assets of the company and limit the amount of interaction financial institutions can have with it.
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