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US Treasury says China stole documents in ‘major’ cyberattack
The United States Department of the Treasury has been hit by a significant cybersecurity breach, with Chinese government hackers gaining access to certain unclassified documents. The news was revealed in a letter sent to senior House lawmakers on Monday.
According to reports, the Treasury Department’s systems were breached on December 8, when BeyondTrust, an identity and access management company, alerted the department that unauthorized access had been gained to certain workstations and documents. The hackers reportedly utilized a key provided by BeyondTrust for remote technical support to gain entry to the system.
In response to the incident, the Treasury Department engaged the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) for assistance. As of December 30, there is no evidence to suggest that the attackers have continued access to Treasury information.
The Treasury has explicitly attributed the breach to a China state-sponsored advanced persistent threat group, indicating backing from the Chinese government. However, it remains unclear which specific group was behind the intrusion.
In a statement, Treasury spokesperson Michael Gwin stressed the importance of cybersecurity and stated, “Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems, and the data it holds. Over the last four years, Treasury has significantly bolstered its cyber defense, and we will continue to work with both private and public sector partners to protect our financial system from threat actors.”
This incident is just the latest in a string of cybersecurity attacks linked to China that have targeted the US government in recent months. In the past, hackers backed by China have been accused of launching waves of cyberattacks against major US phone companies and internet giants, including AT&T and Verizon. These attacks were reportedly aimed at gaining access to the private communications of senior US government officials, including presidential candidates.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. has not commented on the matter.
Source: techcrunch.com
