US Slaps Sanctions on Chinese Firm Linked to Hackers

You know how sometimes you hear about hacking groups that cause trouble? Well, there’s this one in China called Flax Typhoon. They’ve been trying to get into government agencies to steal secret stuff. Recently, the US government said enough is enough and put sanctions on a Chinese company called Integrity Technology Group. Why? Because they think this company is helping Flax Typhoon. Now, Integrity Technology Group is a cybersecurity company based in Beijing. The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said they were involved in nasty cyber activities. Flax Typhoon used a giant network of devices, like cameras and routers, to launch attacks on US and European organizations. This network had over 260, 000 devices and was active for about a year. The FBI stepped in and took down this network last September. But before that, the hackers had already messed with some servers and workstations at a company in California. We don’t know who that company is yet. The OFAC statement said that Flax Typhoon was using Integrity Technology Group’s stuff to send and receive info during their attacks. So, what happens now? US companies can’t do business with Integrity Technology Group, also known as Yongxin Zhicheng. Anyone who breaks this rule could face serious trouble. Plus, the government will freeze any of Integrity Technology Group’s assets in the US. The US thinks that hacking from China is a big problem right now. They’re still working on the Salt Typhoon group’s breach of US telecoms. And get this, last December, the US Treasury’s sanctions office was hacked too! The hackers wanted classified info about Chinese companies that might face US financial sanctions. But they only got declassified stuff.