Federal authorities announced Tuesday that they have erased Chinese malware from thousands of computers across the United States.

To retrieve information from and send commands to the hacked machines, the malware connects to a command-and-control server that is operated by the hacking group. According to the FBI, at least 45,000 IP addresses in the US had back-and-forths with the command-and-control server since September 2023.

The FBI has gained court approval to put an end to the PlugX malware in the U.S., which has affected over 2.5 million devices globally by infiltrating infected USB drives.The Latest Tech News, Deliver

The FBI says it was authorized to mass-remove “PlugX” malware from more than 4,000 compromised machines in the United States

The FBI instructed PlugX — a malware used by state-sponsored hackers in China — to delete itself across 4,200 infected devices in the US.

Federal authorities say they ran a court-approved operation to identify and remotely delete malware from China-backed hackers from thousands of computers, including in Pennsylvania.