U.S. officials have revised earlier statements about a China-linked cyber campaign, clarifying that several government agencies were targets of attempted intrusions rather than confirmed victims.
The Justice Department updated its August 26 announcement to say that the U.S. Senate, Federal Reserve, NASA and other agencies were among the targets of a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group identified as QTFY.
An earlier version of the statement had described those organizations as victims. The DOJ said the correction was made because the supporting affidavit showed that while all of the agencies were targeted, only some were successfully compromised.
The distinction significantly narrows the scope of confirmed breaches in what U.S. authorities have described as a years-long cyber-espionage campaign targeting federal agencies, defense contractors and other sensitive organizations.
According to the FBI affidavit, QTFY has targeted networks including NASA, the Federal Reserve, Department of Energy, Justice Department, Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health and the Senate since at least 2018.
Some attempts were unsuccessful. Investigators said NASA avoided a breach because the agency had patched the software vulnerability being targeted, while a separate March 2026 attempt against the Senate was also unsuccessful.
Authorities nevertheless documented successful intrusions involving Energy Department laboratories, NIH, an HHS agency and other organizations, as well as data theft from unnamed defense contractors, financial institutions and universities.