US Clarifies Chinese Hacking Claims: Agencies Were Targets, Not All Breached
US officials now say several agencies were targeted, not all breached, in a Chinese hacking campaign.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued a correction to its earlier statement regarding a Chinese state-sponsored hacking campaign, clarifying that several government agencies were targeted by the hackers but not all were successfully breached.
The revised statement, released on Friday, now says that the U.S. Senate, the Federal Reserve, and NASA were among the targets of the hacking group, which officials identified earlier this week during a domain seizure operation. The original statement had described these agencies as victims of the attacks.
A note appended to the corrected release explains that the edits were made to ensure the press release accurately reflects the allegations in the supporting affidavit. The DOJ confirmed that the initial release described all agencies as victims, whereas the government's affidavit made clear that all were targeted but only some were compromised.
This distinction narrows the scope of confirmed breaches in what the DOJ has described as a years-long cyber-espionage campaign against U.S. government networks, defense contractors, and other sensitive targets.
According to an FBI affidavit released alongside the original statement, the hackers have targeted federal networks since at least 2018, including those of NASA, the Federal Reserve, the Department of Energy, the Department of Justice, and the National Institutes of Health. The affidavit notes that an attempted breach of NASA was unsuccessful because the agency had patched the targeted software.
The affidavit further alleges that in September 2024, the hackers carried out intrusions at three Department of Energy national laboratories, the National Institutes of Health, a Department of Health and Human Services agency, and a U.S. security device manufacturer.
A separate joint advisory from the FBI, NSA, and U.S. Cyber Command reported successful data thefts from unnamed defense contractors, financial institutions, and universities in May 2024, along with unsuccessful attempts against the U.S. Senate and a hospital in March 2026.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington has not yet commented on the revised statement. In response to the initial announcement, an embassy spokesperson said the U.S. uses cybersecurity issues to "smear or discredit China" and opposes the U.S. overstretching the concept of national security.