US officials backpedal on claims that government agencies were hacked by Chinese, now say they were targets

By AJ Vicens and Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON, Aug 28 (Reuters) – U.S. officials are backpedaling on claims that several government agencies were hacked by Chinese spies, now saying that the organizations were among the hackers’ targets. 

In a freshly edited statement, the Justice Department said Friday that the U.S. Senate, the Federal Reserve, NASA, and others were “among the targets of QTFY,” a Chinese spy platform that officials called out on Wednesday during a internet domain seizure operation.

A previous version of statement said the government agencies had been among the hackers’ victims.

A note left at the bottom of the newly edited statement said that “Edits have been made to ensure this press release accurately reflects the government’s allegations in the affidavit in support of the domain seizures.”

Reuters could not immediately establish which specific agencies the government now believed had been targeted and which ones had been breached. Messages seeking clarification from the Justice Department, the FBI, and CISA were not immediately returned on Friday.

(Reporting by Raphael Satter, Editing by Franklin Paul and Chizu Nomiyama)