U.S. says Chinese hackers broke into Justice Department, NASA, Federal Reserve, Senate

BREAKING: US says Chinese state hackers broke into the Justice Department, NASA, Federal Reserve and Senate networks, having compromised critical US infrastructure since at least 2018.

Chinese state hackers got inside the Justice Department, NASA, the Federal Reserve and the Senate.

That's according to the Justice Department itself, which says it has now disrupted the operation and seized domains tied to two hacking platforms, QScan and QTRouter. Behind them, a China-based firm called Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology, whose clients allegedly include China's Ministry of State Security and the People's Liberation Army. So, a private contractor doing intelligence work for hire. Analysts say that industry has exploded over the past decade.

And this wasn't a smash and grab. The affidavit says these tools have been used against critical infrastructure since at least 2018. Energy Department labs, the NIH, Health and Human Services, a security device maker, plus companies in South Korea. Beijing, as always, denies everything.

Here's what stays with me. Eight years of access attempts across the most sensitive networks in America, and we're only hearing about it now.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.