State-Sponsored Hackers From China Might Have Stolen At Least $20 Million From COVID Unemployment Funds

The notorious gang of hackers from China is said to be connected to the $20 million COVID-19 fraud in the US, the Secret Service confirms.

The state-sponsored cyber criminals, also known as APT41, have been popularly known for carrying out coordinated attacks worldwide.

However, it was the first time the US government discovered how the gang impacted the financial sector in the country and stole COVID funds by the time the pandemic began in 2020.

China-Supported Hackers Behind COVID Fraud

According to a report by NBC News, the Secret Service acknowledged the impact of the damage caused by the state-sponsored hackers from China. However, the federal agency did not go into detail regarding the scope of other investigations.

So far, it only mentioned that at the time, over 1,000 investigations are operating regarding COVID benefits fraud. The Secret Service pointed out that APT41 is a "notable player" in the case.

According to an anonymous official from the Justice Department, the looting of taxpayer funds is something "dangerous." The person added that it might bear "serious" implications when it comes to national security and safety.

Per Mandiant's head of intelligence analysis John Hultquist, this instance is an "escalation" that can be considered. He noted that he had never seen this group of hackers target government money before.

Last week, the Labor Department Office of Inspector General wrote that the real fraud cost could be much higher than the real numbers. The analysis, which was relayed to Congress, highlighted that the pandemic benefits accounting for 42.4% had been "improperly" paid in the first half of 2020.

Following this report, the data from the Heritage Foundation analysis showed that over $350 billion worth of unemployment benefit payments existed between April 2020 and May 2021.

China is Targeting US as Number One Victim

Cyber espionage is not only alarming to companies, organizations, businesses, and common people. The wide-scale fraud also worries cybersecurity experts, who believe that this is only a "tip of an iceberg."

According to the Secret Service, the APT41 has been operating for over 10 years. It has already established itself as a "workhorse" that is working under the Chinese government.

Amid the geopolitical tension between the US and China, it seems that cyber warfare is far from over, given the competition when it comes to several areas, such as technology and finance.

With that being said, the head of the State Department's Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy Nathaniel Fick, believes that the US is there as the number target of these hackers.

"It's a really comprehensive, multi-decade, well-considered, well-resourced, well-planned, well-executed strategy," Fick said.

APT41's involvement in the massive COVID-19 fund fraud does not end up here. The dangerous group of state-sponsored cybercriminals is also notorious for utilizing flawed software for unaware customers.