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

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 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 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 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,

Zài jiàn! The FBI, working with French cops, obtained nine warrants to remotely wipe PlugX malware from thousands of Windows-based computers that had been infected by Chinese government-backed criminals,

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

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.

The FBI just closed a backdoor into thousands of computers by telling the malware to delete itself. According to a press release from the Department of Justice, the intelligence agency was able to successfully get PlugX,