(Removes last paragraph referring to no response to request for comment from China)
By Raphael Satter
WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - US officials said they seized seven internet domains in a new effort to disrupt hackers working with Chinese IT firm Integrity Technology Group.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Justice Department said the domains were being used to help Chinese hackers scan and hack US and foreign critical infrastructure systems.
The department said the move was the second public
effort to disrupt Integrity Tech’s hacking infrastructure. In September 2024, the department announced the court-authorized disruption of an Integrity Tech botnet consisting of more than 250,000 compromised consumer devices in the United States and across the world.
At the time, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said that Integrity Tech was behind a major Chinese hacking group nicknamed "Flax Typhoon" and was carrying out intelligence collection and reconnaissance functions for Beijing's security agencies.
China's foreign ministry said on Friday it firmly opposed hacker activities as well as the ill-intended spread of misinformation.
China would seek to jointly tackle such internet risks and establish mutual respect with the US in this regard, ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a regular briefing in Beijing.
(Reporting by Raphael Satter; Additional reporting by Laurie Chen in Beijing; Editing by Chris Reese, Jamie Freed and Kate Mayberry)
