The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed on Tuesday that a "multi-month law enforcement operation," led to the removal of "PlugX" malware, which was affecting thousands of computers across the globe.
"A group of hackers sponsored by the People's Republic of China (PRC), known to the private sector as 'Mustang Panda' and 'Twill Typhoon,' used a version of PlugX malware to infect, control, and steal information from victim computers," the DoJ said in a statement.
The DoJ mentioned that as per court documents, the Chinese government allegedly paid the Mustang Panda group to create a specific version of the aforementioned malware, which has been infecting various systems since at least 2014. The international operation was headed by France and Sekoia.io, a France-based private cybersecurity company.