U.S. Treasury Imposes Sanctions on Beijing Cybersecurity Company for State-Sponsored Hacking Activities

In a major move on Friday, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Beijing-based cybersecurity company Integrity Technology Group, Incorporated, for its part in plotting a string of cyberattacks against American companies. The company’s role in planning a string of cyberattacks against American companies is the reason for this action.

A state-sponsored threat actor named Flax Typhoon, acting on behalf of the Chinese government, has been implicated openly in these cyberattacks. The same actor became notorious last year for operating the powerful Internet of Things (IoT) botnet called Raptor Train.

The hacking group has been targeting a diverse range of organizations in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia since at least mid-2021. According to the standard operation, Flax Typhoon first gains initial access to target systems by exploiting known vulnerabilities. It then uses legitimate remote access software for maintaining long-term control over the compromised networks.

The Treasury Department has categorically stated that the Chinese cyber actors remain a top-tier and continuous threat to the security of America’s national system. Some of them have hacked systems of the US government systems and have had numerous attempts to access the agency’s systems, also.

“The Treasury Department will not hesitate to hold malicious cyber actors and their enablers accountable for their actions,” said Bradley T. Smith, the Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

“The United States will use all available tools to disrupt these threats as we continue working collaboratively to harden public and private sector cyber defenses,” Smith added.

From here into mid-2022 through the end of 2023, Integrity Group, also known as Yongxin Zhicheng, arms Flax Typhoon’s cyber operations with critical infrastructure. The U.S. Department of State has now officially placed Integrity Group on its list of government contractors that are closely linked to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Ministry of State Security. The company was founded in September 2010.