The BBC reported that Chinese hackers backed by the government infiltrated the US Treasury Department’s systems earlier this month.
Treasury Officials have labeled the breach a “major incident,” revealing in a letter to lawmakers that hackers accessed employee workstations and some unclassified documents.
The department is now working with the Federal Investigation Agency (FBI) and Cybersecurity professionals to assess the damage.
The Attack Was Chinese Sponsered
The Treasury Department identified the attack as the work of a “China-based Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)” group.
Hackers allegedly bypassed security measures through a key from BeyondTrust, a third-party service provider offering remote tech support.
BeyondTrust has since been taken offline, and no further access to Treasury data has been detected.
China Dismiss Allegations
China has dismissed the allegations as “baseless,” maintaining its opposition to all forms of hacking.
However, this breach is the latest in a string of US security incidents attributed to Chinese actors.
Previous hacks include December’s telecom attack that potentially exposed phone records across the US.
