Chinese hackers breach US Treasury in ‘major’ cyber attack
The IndependentSign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “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.” The US Department of Treasury building Assistant treasury secretary Aditi Hardikar noted in Monday’s letter that it was working with CISA as well as the FBI but didn’t say anything further other than the hack had been attributed to Chinese actors. “Based on available indicators, the incident has been attributed to a Chinese state- “With access to the stolen key, the threat actor was able to override the service’s security, remotely access certain Treasury user workstations, and access certain unclassified documents maintained by those users,” Hardikar added. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said Beijing “firmly opposes the US’s smear attacks against China without any factual basis”. “BeyondTrust has been supporting the investigative efforts.” Tom Hegel, a threat researcher at cybersecurity company SentinelOne, said the reported security incident “fits a well-documented pattern of operations by PRC-linked groups, with a particular focus on abusing trusted third-party services — a method that has become increasingly prominent in recent years”.