"The government’s malware disabling commands, which interacted with the malware’s native functionality, were extensively tested prior to the operation," according to the DOJ.

The Flax Typhoon campaign used malware it put on cameras, video recorders and home and office routers, to create a massive network of infected computers and commit cybercrimes, the agency says.

U.S. law enforcement has disrupted a second major Chinese hacking group nicknamed "Flax Typhoon," FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Wednesday, wresting thousands of compromised devices from

U.S. authorities have thwarted another China-backed botnet, freeing hundreds of thousands of infected devices in the process, FBI Director Christopher Wray said.

The FBI, NSA and other U.S. government agencies detailed a Chinese-government operation that used 260,000 of internet-connected devices to launch cyberattacks.