Over 9,000 consumer devices in Canada have been compromised by a Beijing-backed hacker group that installed malicious software on hundreds of thousands home and office internet-connected devices worldwide, an assessment done by U.S. authorities has found.
The hacker group called “Flax Typhoon” has controlled and managed a large network of compromised devices—a botnet—that’s been active since mid-2021, says a Sept. 18 “Joint Cybersecurity Advisory” issued by the FBI and two other U.S. national security agencies along with partner agencies in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
The devices, such as routers, digital video recorders, internet protocol cameras, and network-attached storage devices, are infected with a type of malware that allows the hackers to have unauthorized remote access and to carry out cyber crimes. Using the botnet as a proxy, they are able to conceal their identities during cyberattacks and other malicious activities….