U.S. law enforcement has disrupted a second major Chinese hacking group nicknamed "Flax Typhoon" and wrested thousands of compromised devices from its grasp, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Wednesday.

The FBI, NSA and other U.S. government agencies detailed a Chinese-government operation that used 260,000 of internet-connected devices to launch cyberattacks. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved.

"The government’s malware disabling commands, which interacted with the malware’s native functionality, were extensively tested prior to the operation," according to the DOJ.

A hacker group known as Flax Typhoon was able to infect hundreds of thousands of devices around the world, authorities said. China has denied any involvement in the malicious botnet.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. law enforcement has disrupted a second major Chinese hacking group nicknamed "Flax Typhoon," FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Wednesday, wresting thousands of compromised devices from its grasp.

The Flax Typhoon campaign used malware it put on cameras, video recorders and home and office routers, to create a massive network of infected computers and commit cybercrimes, the agency says.

FBI Director Chris Wray warned that this is just one round in a larger cyber conflict with Chinese-backed actors.

The hackers, known as 'Flax Typhoon,' managed to build a botnet used to target government agencies and infrastructure in the U.S. and abroad