Chinese spyware code was copied from America's NSA - researchers

FILE PHOTO: Computer code is seen on a screen above a Chinese flag in this July 12, 2017 illustration photo. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chinese spies used code first developed by the U.S. National Security Agency to support their hacking operations, Israeli researchers said on Monday, another indication of how malicious software developed by governments can boomerang against their creators.

Tel Aviv-based Check Point Software Technologies issued a report noting that some features in a piece of China-linked malware it dubs "Jian" were so similar they could only have been stolen from some of the National Security Agency break-in tools leaked to the internet in 2017.