The US Treasury Department has reported a Chinese-backed hacker attack. Secret documents are not affected, but there is still a “serious IT security incident”. China rejects the allegations.
The US Treasury Department says it has been the target of a cyber attack supported by China. The cyber attack infiltrated several Treasury Department workplaces, the ministry said in a statement to the US Congress.
According to a ministry spokesman, the attackers gained access to Finance Ministry computers and some documents through an external security service provider at the beginning of December. However, the documents were not subject to any level of secrecy, the Finance Ministry said.
Accordingly, the authority was informed about the incident by its provider BeyondTrust. He then worked with the security authorities to assess the extent of the attack. The Chinese Foreign Office rejected the allegations.
China: “Always any form of hacker attacks rejected”
The cybersecurity services targeted by the attackers have been taken offline. It is still a “serious IT security incident”. There was “no indication” that the attacker had further access to IT systems or information from the Ministry of Finance, it said. The Ministry of Finance did not provide any further information about which area of the department was affected. However, it announced further information within the next 30 days.
In its letter to the US Senate Banking Committee, the ministry says the incident was caused by an actor supported by the Chinese state. This actor is responsible for serious cyber attacks in the APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) category.
The Chinese Foreign Office said there was no evidence of involvement in the incident. China has always rejected all forms of hacker attacks and even more rejects the spread of false information against China for political purposes, said spokeswoman Mao Ning in Beijing.
There have already been several cyber attacks on government institutions
In March, the USA, Great Britain and New Zealand accused China of a series of cyber attacks on state institutions in recent years. In February, the US authorities announced that they had thwarted a Chinese-backed cyber attack on important infrastructure, including communications, energy and water supplies.
As early as May 2023, the USA and other Western allies accused Beijing of using the state-sponsored hacker group “Volt Typhoon” to infiltrate important infrastructure in the United States. China has always denied the allegations.
