US says Chinese-linked hackers attacked NASA, Senate, and gov’t agencies

By Catherine Nouhan and Reuters. Published On 26 Aug 202626 Aug 2026.

Key points

• Neither the Chinese embassy in Washington nor Nanjing Xinjiuwei responded to requests for comment by the Reuters news agency.
• The operation is part of a broader series of court-authorised actions targeting what Attorney General Todd Blanche described as "indiscriminate hacking activities" by China.
• The infrastructure had been applied to compromise critical infrastructure and other sensitive networks in the US and elsewhere since at least 2018, according to an affidavit.
• The Federal Reserve, US Senate, and four unnamed firms in the US and South Korea were additionally identified as targets.
• Hackers had unsuccessfully attempted to access NASA networks in August 2019.

Notably, the United States remarked it has disrupted a China-affiliated hacking operation that targeted sensitive US administration bodies, including the US Department of Justice, NASA, the Federal Reserve, and the US Senate.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department's announcement, published on Wednesday, stated the operation took down two hacking platforms, QScan and QTRouter, that were applied to break into internet-connected devices and hide the source of attacks. The infrastructure had been applied to compromise critical infrastructure and other sensitive networks in the US and elsewhere since at least 2018, according to an affidavit.

Hackers had unsuccessfully attempted to access NASA networks in August 2019. In September 2024, they successfully breached networks at three Department of Energy laboratories, NIH, HHS, and a US security-device manufacturer, according to court documents.

In practice, the Federal Reserve, US Senate, and four unnamed firms in the US and South Korea were additionally identified as targets.

For context, the Justice Department remarked the platforms were run by a China-based firm, the Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Business, whose clients it noted included China's civilian intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security, and its military, the People's Liberation Army.

According to the announcement, QScan was applied to find and infect thousands of internet-connected devices, including routers and other network equipment. Those devices were then incorporated into a network through QTRouter.

That network allowed the hackers to route their attacks through computers and other devices outside China. Consequently, an attack aimed at a US target could appear to be coming from a device in another country, or even from a device close to the intended victim.

For context, the latest operation does not mean all the group's activity has been eliminated, but the domain seizures will disrupt access to the platforms.

"When an intrusion appears to come from a device down the street from the target instead of from overseas, it buys the operator time and makes attribution slow, " Richard Hummel, a vice president at cybersecurity firm SecurityScorecard, informed Al Jazeera. "Taking two platforms of that size offline costs the operators real capability they were using every day."

Notably, the operation is part of a broader series of court-authorised actions targeting what Attorney General Todd Blanche described as "indiscriminate hacking activities" by China. The FBI's Cyber Division, federal prosecutors in California, and the San Diego field office led this investigation.

Chinese-linked hacking campaigns have compromised a string of sensitive US administration and private networks over recent years. In March, the FBI notified the US Congress that hackers had penetrated certain agency networks related to individuals under FBI investigation, with public reporting afterwards attributing the compromise to China. As well as multiple major telecommunications businesses over recent years, chinese-linked hackers have additionally been tied to a compromise of certain US House of Representatives committee networks.

For now, US says Chinese-linked hackers attacked NASA, Senate, and gov't agencies remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.