The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced stringent penalties against Integrity Technology Group, a Beijing-based cybersecurity company, for allegedly aiding the state-sponsored hacker organization Flax Typhoon in a series of cyber intrusions targeting critical infrastructure in the United States.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Treasury Department detailed that Flax Typhoon, with the support of Integrity Technology Group, carried out “multiple computer intrusion incidents against U.S. victims,” including American colleges, government offices, media outlets, and telecommunications companies.
The U.S. Department of State further accused Flax Typhoon of executing effective and coordinated cyberattacks on critical sectors of the U.S., describing their operations as a significant threat to national security.
This development comes just days after Verizon, a major American wireless network operator, confirmed it had successfully contained a cyberattack launched by the China-linked Salt Typhoon cyber-espionage group.
In a statement, Richard Young, Verizon’s spokesperson, disclosed that the network was targeted by Salt Typhoon but emphasized that the company had taken measures to secure its systems.
“We have contained the cyber incident brought on by this nation-state threat actor,” Young said. “We have not detected any threat actor activity on our network for some time.”