State-sponsored Chinese hackers breached US Treasury systems. They gained access to employees’ workplaces and some unclassified documents. About this informs BBC.
The Treasury Department called the attack a “serious incident” and said it was working with the FBI and other agencies to investigate the effects of the hack. The agency said in a statement that the hackers were able to bypass the security system using an access key used by a third-party service provider.
Hackers gained remote access to several user workstations and unclassified documents. The nature of these documents, as well as the duration of the attack, remain unknown. The Ministry noted that there is no evidence of further access after the incident was discovered.
Ministry officials said the initial investigation points to a “Chinese entity associated with Advanced Persistent Threats (APT)”. After fixing the breach, service provider BeyondTrust notified the ministry. Suspicious activity was first reported in early December, but it took time to confirm the hack.
China has denied involvement, calling the allegations “baseless” and saying the country consistently opposes any form of cyberattacks. However, American officials suggest that the attack was espionage in nature, focused on obtaining information, and not on the theft of funds.
