US Treasury Breached by Chinese Hackers

US Treasury Breach by Chinese Hackers

Earlier this month, Chinese state-sponsored hackers managed to breach the US Treasury Department's systems, accessing employee workstations and unclassified documents, according to American officials.

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The US Treasury Breach

The US Treasury Department has reported this incident of US Treasury Breach as a "major incident," informing lawmakers through a letter. The department is currently collaborating with the FBI and other agencies to assess the hack's impact. China has denied any involvement, labeling the accusations as "baseless" and asserting that they "consistently oppose all forms of hacking."

This US Treasury breach is the latest in a string of high-profile security incidents in the US that have been attributed to Chinese hackers. In December, a hack on telecom companies potentially exposed phone record data of a large portion of American society. According to the Treasury Department's letter, the attack was executed by China-based actors who bypassed security using a key from a third-party service provider called BeyondTrust, which offers remote technical support to employees. BeyondTrust has since been taken offline, and there is no evidence to suggest that the hackers have had continued access to Treasury Department information.

The US Treasury department is working with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and third-party forensic investigators to gauge the overall impact. Initial investigations suggest that the breach was conducted by a "China-based Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor." The US Treasury department, which monitors global financial systems and economies and has levied US sanctions against China in recent years, was informed of the hack on December 8 by BeyondTrust. The company first detected suspicious activity on December 2, but it took three days to determine that they had been hacked.

During those three days, the hackers reportedly managed to remotely access several Treasury user workstations and some unclassified documents. The US Treasury department did not specify the nature of these files, the duration of the hack, or the seniority of the staff whose materials were accessed. The hackers are believed to have been seeking information rather than attempting to steal funds, potentially creating accounts or changing passwords during the time they were being monitored by BeyondTrust. The department's letter states that a supplemental report on the incident will be provided to lawmakers in 30 days. China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning has denied the US claims, describing them as "baseless accusations lacking evidence."

In the past year, two groups of suspected Chinese government hackers have been identified. Volt Typhoon is accused of targeting critical infrastructure for potential disruption attacks, while Salt Typhoon is believed to be engaged in espionage missions. China routinely denies involvement, with a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington DC calling the latest accusations part of a smear campaign without any factual basis. "The US needs to stop using cybersecurity to smear and slander China, and stop spreading all kinds of disinformation about the so-called Chinese hacking threats," said embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu. The US has not provided any evidence to substantiate the claim that China is responsible for the hack.

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