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

The FBI says it was authorized to mass-remove “PlugX” malware from more than 4,000 compromised machines in 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 hacked about 4,200 computers across the US as part of an operation to find and delete PlugX, a malware used by state-backed hackers in China to steal information from victims, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.

The FBI said today that it removed Chinese malware from 4,258 US-based computers and networks by sending commands that forced the malware to use its "self-delete" function.

The FBI worked with French law enforcement to squash a variant of the PlugX malware that spreads through USB drives.

The FBI and French authorities conducted an international operation to remotely delete Chinese malware used by Beijing-linked hackers to steal data from thousands of U.S., European, and Asian computer networks,

The US has again taken court-approved action to remove malware from privately-held internet-connected computers across the country, part of an effort by a number of countries to combat infections of a version of the PlugX malware from a Chinese-based group that has infected thousands of Windows machines around the world.

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

Malicious software is just one of the ways hackers can steal data or cause damage to your electronic devices, but two federal agencies undertook major steps to combat it.