US officials have backed away from earlier claims that several government agencies were hacked by Chinese spies, now saying that these structures were only among the hackers' targets, "Reuters" reported.
In a redacted statement, the US Justice Department said that the Senate, Federal Reserve, NASA and others were "among the targets of QTFY" - a Chinese spy platform that authorities uncovered on Wednesday during an operation to seize Internet domains, BTA reported.
A previous version of the statement indicated that government agencies were among the victims of the hack.
A note added to the end of the newly edited statement states that "changes have been made to ensure that this press release accurately reflects the government's allegations contained in the affidavit supporting the domain seizure".
Reuters was not immediately able to determine which specific agencies the government now believes were targeted and which were compromised. Calls for comment seeking clarification on the matter from the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) were not immediately returned.