Chinese government hackers who breached the U.S. Treasury Department last month targeted the office responsible for economic sanctions, The Washington Post reported.
The hackers targeted the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Office of Financial Research, and the office of U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, The newspaper reportedciting unnamed U.S. government officials.
The department revealed in a letter to lawmakers earlier this week that Hackers stole unclassified documents in ‘major incident’. It did not specify which users or departments were affected.
Also on AF: Chinese racing to buy key chip materials from U.S. suppliers
The Washington Post quoted sources as saying that the area of greatest interest to the Chinese government is Chinese entities that the U.S. government may consider imposing financial sanctions on.
David Laufman, a former sanctions enforcement official, told the newspaper: “Even access to unclassified information held by OFAC could provide the Chinese government with valuable intelligence because that information could be used to sanction organizations and individuals. File a case.”
Meanwhile, the newspaper reported that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s computer was not known to have been compromised, citing two unnamed U.S. officials.
The Treasury Department’s letter earlier this week said hackers breached BeyondTrust, a third-party cybersecurity service provider, which allowed them to override security protocols and gain access to some of the department’s workstations.
Beijing calls U.S. claims “unreasonable”
Chinese companies, individuals and entities are frequently targeted by U.S. sanctions, which Washington uses as a key tool of its foreign policy toward China.
The United States views China as its biggest foreign policy challenge, Yellen said last month that Washington Do not rule out imposing sanctions on Chinese banks As it seeks to reduce Russia’s oil revenues and access to foreign supplies to fuel its war in Ukraine.
Asked about the newspaper’s report, Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said the U.S.’s “irrational” claims had “no factual basis” and were a “smear attack” against Beijing.
The statement said China “combines all forms of cyberattacks,” but did not directly respond to the Washington Post’s report on specific targets.
The hacking of the U.S. Treasury follows reports last month that Chinese hackers had “infiltrated” at least eight U.S. telecom carriers.
One lawmaker described the breach as the “worst telecommunications hack” in U.S. history, and security agencies issued a warning to U.S. citizens and government officials Stick to encrypted communication channels Instead of regular phone calls and text messages.
Officials who spoke to The Washington Post said the Chinese government “has been gaining access to critical infrastructure systems across the country in anticipation of the day when they want to physically disrupt those networks in a potential conflict with the West.”
- Reuters, with additional editing and input by Vishakha Saxena
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