Major Cyber Attack: China Hacks United States’ Treasury Dept
The United States authorities have confirmed that a Chinese state-sponsored hacker breached the U.S. Treasury Department.
The authorities specifically said that the hackers accessed government employees’ workstations and unclassified documents.
It however said that the compromised service has since been deactivated, adding that there is no evidence suggesting that the Chinese actor still has access to treasury information.
The New York Times reports that President Joe Biden’s administration confirmed the development on Monday, saying that the incident was flagged on December 8 by BeyondTrust, a third-party software service provider.
The report further said that the hacker obtained a security key that enabled remote access to certain treasury workstations and the documents stored on them.
A letter from the Treasury Department to lawmakers stated that “Based on available indicators, the incident has been attributed to a China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor.
“In accordance with Treasury policy, intrusions attributable to an APT are considered a major cybersecurity incident,” it said.
The United States Treasury Department is currently working with the FBI, intelligence agencies, and other investigators to assess the impact of the breach.
