FBI disclosed that a foreign group of hackers has infiltrated multiple U.S. government and commercial computer networks as early as 2011 to steal sensitive information, Motherboard reported April 4.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai writes the publication obtained an FBI notice that lists websites used by the Advanced Persistent Threat 6 group, or APT6, as command-and-control servers to conduct phishing campaigns against their target organizations.
The bureau suspended the affected domains in late 2015 and issued the cybersecurity warning to urge companies to increase vigilance to protect their systems from persistent cyber criminals.
FireEye security experts believe that APT6 is a Chinese state-affiliated hacking group, the report said.
The federal government indicted five Chinese military officials in 2014 who were accused of perpetrating cyber espionage operations in the U.S. private sector and identified China as the entity behind a massive breach at the Office of Personnel Management last year.