FBI Dismantles China-Linked Hacking Network That Targeted NASA, the Senate and the Federal Reserve

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 16: Deputy Attorney General Jeffery Rosen listens as FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich speaks to the media about charges and arrests related to a computer intrusion campaign tied to the Chinese government by a group called APT 41 at the Department of Justice on September 16, 2020 in Washington, DC. The Justice Department unsealed charges on Wednesday against five Chinese citizens accused of hacking more than 100 companies in the U.S. who are allegedly members of a larger operation known as APT-41. (Credit: Photo by Tasos Katopodis-Pool/Getty Images)

A years-long cyber-espionage campaign that U.S. investigators tie to the Chinese government lost its digital backbone this week, after federal prosecutors and FBI agents carried out court-authorized seizures of the domains keeping two connected hacking tools alive. The takedown lands close to home in Houston, where NASA's Johnson Space Center anchors an aerospace economy built in part on Hispanic engineering, contracting and mission-support talent.

Two Tools, One Coordinated Operation