The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday that it has deleted malware planted on more than 4,200 computers by a group of criminal hackers who were backed by the People's Republic of China.

The Department of Justice and the FBI have completed a project to remotely remove malware used by Chinese hackers from computers in the US.

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

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