Chinese hackers have stolen tens of millions of dollars from US COVID-19 relief funds since 2020, the US Intelligence Service said.
The Secret Service declined to provide further details, but confirmed an NBC News report that the Chinese hacking team allegedly responsible is known in the security research community as APT41 or Winnti.
APT41 is a cybercriminal group that has carried out a mix of government-backed cyber intrusions and financial data theft, according to experts.
More hackers were indicted in 2019 and 2020
Several members of the hacker group were indicted in 2019 and 2020 by the US Department of Justice for spying on more than 100 companies, including software development companies, telecommunications providers, social media firms and game developers video.
“Unfortunately, the Chinese Communist Party has chosen a different path to make China safe for cybercriminals as long as they attack computers outside of China and steal intellectual property useful to China,” the former deputy attorney general said at the time Jeffrey Rosen, according Reuters.
China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.