FBI Director Wray Announces Disruption Of Second Major Chinese Hacking Group

FBI Director Christopher Wray announced that his agency has successfully disrupted the activities of a second major Chinese hacking group known as “Flax Typhoon.” The announcement was made during Wray’s address at the Aspen Cyber Summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, where he detailed the FBI’s efforts to counter growing cyber threats from Chinese-linked groups.

Wray revealed that the FBI’s Cyber Action Team recovered thousands of compromised devices that had been taken over by Flax Typhoon in what he called “just one round in a much longer fight.” The group had been routing malicious traffic through a botnet made up of hijacked devices, including cameras and digital storage systems, many of which were located in the U.S.

Flax Typhoon was found to be controlled by a larger entity known as Integrity Technology Group, which Wray described as posing as an IT firm while conducting intelligence gathering and reconnaissance for Chinese government agencies. The group reportedly launched a cyberattack when the FBI began efforts to control the botnet but eventually abandoned the effort.

This latest group mirrors the tactics used by another Chinese hacking group, “Volt Typhoon,” which was uncovered last year. Volt Typhoon had embedded itself in critical American infrastructure sectors such as telecommunications and energy, prompting significant concerns about national security.

Wray emphasized that the FBI’s battle against Chinese hacking groups is ongoing and highlighted the continuing tensions between the U.S. and China over issues like Taiwan as a contributing factor to the cyber activity.